lieRADT OF THE UKIVERSITY OF CillFORNIt IIBI VERSITY OF CUIFORfilit; LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA vC^^S i LIBI A ^ f s UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA I ^ 7/1 >- LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA s UmVERSITr OF CUiFORmi imm OF THF UNIVERSITY OF CtllFORIIIIl ' 6 ^^^^ffl I • • • • • ••• ••••• • ••* • • •• • • Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/freeloveitsvotarOOellirich FREE LOVE AND ITS VOTAEIES. FREE LOVE ITS VOTARIES; AMERICAN SOCIALISM UNMASKED. BEING AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE RIS3L J^NJ:> I>I?,OG}-IiESS OF THE VAEIOUS IEEE LOYE ASSOOIATIOUS IS THE .OTITED STATES, AND OB" THE EFFECTS OF THEIR VICIOUS TEACHINGS UPON A5IESICAN SOCIETY. By Dr. aOl^N B. ELLIS, AtrxnOB OF " THE SIGHTS AND SECHETS OP THE NATIONAL CAriTAI.," ETC., ETO. *' There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than arc dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet. UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, New York, Cix(Snxati, Chicaqo, and St. Louis. A. L. BANCROFT & CO., Sajt Fsajjcisco, Cai* ^ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by THE TTNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, Iq the OfGlce of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. THE TEOW & SMITH BOOK M A^NUrACTUEINa 00^ 805-213 E. 12Tn Street, New Yoek. I ^c.^ 'M TO THE ADVOCATES OP CHRIS XIA-N M:^TlIiIA.G-K, AS TAUGHT BY FOB MOBE THAN EIGHTEEN CENTUKIES, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED. m3ii2S2 PREFACE. For more than tHrty years tlie attention of tlie American people has been directed toward the strange and abominable doctrines and practices of the Mor- mon sect, and all lovers of morality have, with one accord, been outspoken in its denunciation. But while attention has been generally directed toward this particular form of vice, another and a more dan- gerous evil has sprung up and has been silently growing in our very midst, unnoticedbythqse whose duty it was to crush it in the bud ; ^or^jf noticed at all, merely laughed at as a harnilessjv^gary. Encour-_ aged in this way, the evil principle of FreeJLovgJias sj^ead with marvelloiis_ra pidityy u ntil it has ma ni- fested itself_in_al most every class of societ y. It ha s not only drawn men and women into organized asso- ciations, but has lowered the moral tone oF socTety to an exTenTwhTch isTruly alarming. We see its work- ings~in~the looseness of public sentiment o^jgiiestions of moralityy"in the infamous facilities for divorce whicKare increasing in our landxin the jJghjLest^ 10 PREFACE. in whicli the marriage tie is held : and in tlie efforts to abolish th^m arriage relatio n. The evil has spread to such an alarming extent, that it is time some measures were taken to check it. Our people have been too careless of the danger which threatens their dearest and most sacred relations ; and it is time to be in readiness to resist it. In all ages there have been those who have sought to break down the restraints of society and secure an unrestricted range for their base desires; but it was reserved for the present boasted age of civilization to witness an organized and systematic effort of this kind. It is in vain that the people engaged in it seek to disguise it under different names. "Whether they be Oneida Communists, Indi- vidual Soverei^SjJBerlin Heights Free Lovers, Spirit- ualists, Advocates of Woman Suffrage, or Friends of Free Div6rce7~^~TSn3;]tfiem^ accomplish ment of one object— the total destruction of the._ marriage- relation. They all admit that mar- riage is the great obstacle in their path to the accom- plishment* of their desires. Mamage is based upon religion and purity. With both of these they are at war. It was suggested to the writer, during the past winter, that much good might be done by a work which should expose to the public the real character PREFACE. 11 of the advocates of Free Love— -w Mcli general term is jbere applied To all the ~5Qem iea_jif. marriage, sin.cg there are but two alt ernatives off er ed to_ the_imrld-:— , marriagfi^or F ree Lov e — and the true consequences of their teachings. The present volume is the result of this suggestion. It is issued in the cause of morality and virtue. Its aim is to call the attention of the public to the dangers with which society is threatened by the Free-Love doctrines of the present day, and by presenting a plain and truthful state- ment of the case, to awaken the public indignation and alarm to such a degree, that persons of all shades of opinion shall feel the necessity of taking s©mfe decisive steps to check this evil, beforciit is;i}oo^ 1W8& No remedy is suggested here. The ^bj'ect o£' ^' book is to draw the attenti-3 Ince that converted them is suppressed. ^^irdT" the theocratic tendency, if it goesjbej^nd- religion, natu- rally runs first into^someTorm of socialism. Rengiojas l5ve IS a very near Jnejglrfcfo^^^ sexual Ipvey-and they always "'get mixed in the intimacies and social excite- ments of revivals. The next thing that a man wants after he has found the salvation of his soul, is to fin J' hiS"1Eve aiid His Paradise. Hence these wild .expeii.™. mSits and terrible disasters.: " From these facts and these principles, quite op- posite conclusions may be drawn by different pei-sons. A worldly-wise man might say they show that revi- vals are damnable delusions, leading to immorality and the disorganization of society. I should say, they show that revivals, because they are divine, require for their complement a divine organization of society, which all who love revivals and the good of man- 32 FREE LOVE kind should fearlessly seek to discover and inaugu- rate." There is mueli truth in these remarks of Father Noyes. The passions of the human heart are so sym- pathetic, that, to inflame one, places all the others in danger. This explains the sudden, and, to many, the unaccountable plunging into licentiousness of persons who have been the most powerfully affected at some great revival of religion. The terrible excitement to which they were subjected upon even so holy a sub- ject, has aroused feelings stronger than they — feelings which, until then, had never caused them ^ moment's uneasiness. Now they have broken forth with fearful power, and have hurried them headlong into the abyss. But even if this should not be so, if the revivalist should escape this danger, he is no longer the same being that he was before his " awakening." . A man cannot subject himself to such overwhelming out- bursts of passionate ferv^or, even in the cause of re- ligion, and remain the same. His entire nature is changed, and this stormy period of his life makes a different -being of him. was withtij£j£;3gvalists of Western New >ut of th^.-SiyTiiriISl'i!u ^j^religious excitement which marked that year, came forth la^iekss o f men and women who professed to live by a rule Afferent from that which .the rest of the world.pb- jerved. They claimed that they were ransomed from ?i a^ Qxe m pt ed Soiii" tlie curse of man ; that tliey were pe^ct. and could no longer sin. These people called AND ITS VOTARIES. 33 tliep3LS©k^e»^'-^^-Saifi*&"-"-a^a4 -w^re""a known as ^ Per jEactionis t s." The le aders of the new se ct; were the Kev.JH[irain Sheldon, of Delphi, Eev. Jarvis Eider, of De Ruyter, and Eey. Erasraus Stone, of Salina — tjjree popular revival preachers. The members of the new creed, which had not yet been definitively pro- mulgated, were scattered over the western part of JSTew York and throughout the New England States. During the winter of 1834, a general convention of the Perfectionists in New York met at Manlius, in Onondaga Counfy, for the purpose of effecting a more thorough organization. In some respects the meeting was a success. Many conv'erts were made, a feeling of enthusiasm was aroused, and the new gospel was boldly proclaimed by the three preachers already named. The action of the Saints was open and fear- less. " TTprf> thpy annQj^i^^^jfj. t^^ir p^ppr^ti^n from thewojldj^. Here they began to debate wKethiei^-^h-e" olljaarriage-vows would or would not be binding in the new heaven and the new earth. . . . The doc- trme openly avowed at Manlius was, that, with the old world which was then passing away, would go all leffal bonds and rites ; that old ties were about to become loosened, and old associations to end ; includ- ing those of prince and liege, of cleric and laymaUj of parent and child, of husband and,.jvife. These old rites were to be replaced by new ones. A kingdom of heaven was at hand ; and in that kingdom of heav- en every man was to be happy in his choice. And it was not only right, but prudent, to prepare betimes for that higher state of conjugal bliss. The doctrine 3 34 FREE LOVE tauglit in the privacy of the love-feast and the prayer- meeting was, that all the arrangements for a life in ^aven may be made on eai'th ; that spiritual friend- ships may be formed, and spiritual bonds contracted, ' valid f or eternity, in the chapel and the cam p. Hence it became quickly understood among them, that the things of time were of slight account even in this earthly life, and that the things of heaven wer^ to be considered as all in all. Not that any. rule came into vogue which either led, or looked like leading, to a breach of the social law." * This was the first dawning of the doctrines of the Perfect Church, and embodied more of purity than its later teachings. These doctrines were not reduced to \vriting, but their adherents proclaimed them every- where, and shaped their lives iji accordance with them ; and, it must be acknowledged, at the first their lives were pure, not to say rigid. Among the converts was a young woman of some ability, of great personal beauty, and of good social position, L ucina Umphrev ille by name, and a resident of JDelphi. teeing^^^a^I^man .of strong will, and—a most zealous Perfectionist, she at once toQk™a..^eom- manding position in the new Church. She was also an ambitious woman, and was not long in making her influence felt. She taught several new articles of faith, which she claimed to have received from "heaven in visions of the night and by inspiration, and, amongst other things, undertook to regulate the relation -oflhe sexes upon a new basis. In the kingdom of heaven, * " Spiritual Wives." By Wm. nepworth Dixon, pp. 23Y-288. AND ITS VOTARIES. 35 slie_saidj there was " neither inai-riage not giving in mamage," and the Saints upon earth must liveaftet the same manner. Wedlock and its duties must _be done away with, and all carnal love between male a^d female must be for evermore banished. Women m ust ^ no longer listen to lovers' vows, and men must cease to seek wives. The churches, in solemnizing fregjh marriages, were committing sin ; and it was the duty of all who were married to live simply as brother and sister. . "^ As may be supposed, Lucyi^^did not make many converts to this belief among the sterner sex, who wrathfully named her " Miss Anti-Marriagej " but her doctrine became quite popular amongst the women, who began to discard their lovers and abandoji all idea of marriage. Many married women endeavored to shape their domestic lives according to the new faith — only, however, to find that such practice bade fair to alienate their -husbands' affections from thein entirely. The women we re timid, h ririitntin^j ^irrn tn visions ; themen became Tiirious a nd sworn enemies "of ^^Misa Anti-M ar^jf i ^ fti^ ^ "^ "^ The great weakness of Lucina's teachings was, that she did not forbid men and women to mingle to- gether. She gave considerable freedom to the affec- tions, but required that they should be exercised only in the Lord. "Men and women might be friends, though she could not permit them to become lovers and mistresses. Under Lucina's guidance — for, in these things, Sheldon himself could not fight against her — a sweet and perilous privilege was assumed by 36 FREE LOVE /these New York Saints of entering into new and mys- /terious bonds of tlie spirit. In this friendship of / souls the law was to have no voice, the flesh no share ; I male and female were to be brother and> sister only ; \ they might address each other in sacred terms, and \ grant to each other the solace of a holy kiss. Beyond these freedoms they were not to go ; and even these privileges were to be put aside on any movement in the heart suggesting an unchaste desire. The j ovg^ was to be wholly pure and free. No law was ever laid down ; out ic was tacitly agreed among the Saints, that these tender passages of soul with soul were not to be made the subject of idle talk. An air of silence and reserve, if not of secrecy, was thought to befit so solemn an encounter of spirits ; and every one was expected to guard in, his fellow a right which he was free to exercise for himself" Of course, this new rela- tionship of the sexes, so sweet and strange, must have some distinguishing name ; and it was agreed by the Church that it should be known as the relation of the spiritual husband to the spiritual bride.* In throwing off the old relationships and introduc- ing this new one, Lucina Umphreville had placed her converts in greater danger than she had imagined. If the spiritual partnership was sweet, it was also very perilous. The tender pressure of the hands, the elo- quent glance of the eye, and the " holy kiss," which constituted the greeting of the spiritual pair, had too strong a taint of the earth in them to be safe. The flesh was strong even in these " Perfect " Saints, and * " Spiritual Wives," p. 240. I AND ITS VOTARIES. 37 the sequel proved tliat it was not always possible to resist it. Indeed, it is a striking commentary upon tlie new doctrine, tliat no man found his spiritual bride in his wedded wife, and no woman her spiritual lord in her lavrful. husband. Each went seeking some other person's temporal partner. This was a little awkward, and might have given Miss Anti-Marriage some trouble, had not the Kev. Erasmus Stone come to her relief. ~ Stone, indeed, seems to have been the author of the original spiritual-wife doctrine. Lueina'Siiy-aniil proved upon it. " In the early days of the revivalj^ Stone had seen a vision of the night. A mighty host of men and women filled the sky ; a sudden spirit seemed to quicken them ; they began to move, to cross each other, and to fly hither and thither. A great pain, an eager want, were written on their faces. Each man appeared to be yearning for some woman, each woman appeared to be moaning for some man. Every one in that mighty host had seemingly lost the thing most precious to his heart. On waking from his slumber. Stone, who had perhaps been reading Plato, told this dream to his disciples in the Salt Works. When his people asked him for the intei^re- tation of his dream, he said that, in the present stage of being, men and women are nearly always wrongly paired in marriage ; that his vision was the day of judgment ; that the mighty hosts were the risen dead, who had started from the grave as they had been laid down, side by side ; that the trouble which had come upon them was the quick discerning of the spirit that 88 FREE LOVE they had not been truly paired on earth ; that the violent pain and want upon their faces were the de- sires of every soul to find its natural mate." * This seems to have settled the question with the Perfect Church, and thenceforth there was no more doubt about the spiritual-marriage doctrine. Sheldon at once adopted it, and went so far as to attempt to define the tests by which these delicate affinities could be detected in this lower world. Furthermore, he de- clared that the recognition of this affinity would be continued in the other world. Sheldon and Stone both set an example to their followers in this respect. Stone found his spiritual partner in Eliza Porter, a beautiful and intelligent married woman of Salina; and Sheldon discovered that his legal wife was not his true affinity, and would be happier when released from him, and found his spiritual bride in a young and handsome unmarried woman, Sophia A. Cook by name. The Perfect Church at once recoQ:nized and justified these mystical unions, and Lucina Umphre- ville boldly declared that it was not only right that these two men should have such partners "in the Lord," but that the Rev. Jarvis Rider ought to make a similar provision for himself Rider at once claimed her as his spiritual wife ; and she, true to her faith, accepted him, declaring that she was now in the high- est state a woman could reach upon earth. Rider proved unworthy of her confidence, and it would seem that he was not the man to be satisfied with a union purely spiritual. * " Spiritual Wives," p. 241. AIST) ITS VOTARIES. 39 In 1836, an important meeting of tlie Saints was Leld at Canaseraga, in Alleghany County/ I^ew York. Jarvis Rider was prominent among tlie leaders, and Ms spiritual bride, Lucina Umphreville, was the chief female preacher. This singular couple bore public testimony, at this meeting, to the perfect bliss of their anion. They claimed to have entered, by means of it, upon a higher and nobler phase of religious experi- ence — in short, to have attained " to the state of the resurrection frAm the dead." They also jieclaxed,--at^ this meeting and elsewhere, that the'only basis upon which the companionship between man and woman could be arranged " in the Lord," was that_.o£. Com- plete and unswerving chastity. They travelled about through the lake-country preaching this doctrine, and winning many converts. The amount of trouble they caused in families hitherto happy an rconte^^^^ very ^reat. InJji£L.mids.t.of the general religious awakening which followed, the women nearly drove ijeir husbands mad, and there was scarcely a house in ^hicKlflie: relations between husband and wife were agtj for the time at least, radically altered. In the midst of these teachings, the spiritual union existing between Rider and Lucina was suddenly bro- ken up. Rider discovei^d that his true affinity was not his dear Lucina, but a still more fascinating woman — a married woman at that — a Mrs. Chapman, of Bridgeport, on Oneida Lake. Lucina gave him up promptly, and consoled herself by taking, as her spiritual spouse, the Rev. Charles Lovett, of Massa- chusetts — one of the most prominent of the New Eng- 40 THEE LOVE land Perfectionists, who was at the time on a mission to the Church -in New York. This New England branch of the Perfect Church had sprung into existence about the same time that the New York branch was organized, and the centre of its operations was the little town of Brimfield, in Hampden County, Massachusetts. The Jjeaders of the mov.^jnent were the Kev. -Simon- I^;i^t£laE3QEe Rev. "^Chauncejr Piitton-;- -l^t-"here,. as ift.._ New York, the wemren' exercised a powerful influence over the new CKuTch. New England women rarely do things liy" Imlires, and these " fair sisters " were no exception to this rule. Two sisters by the name of Annesley, Miss Maria Brown and her sister Abby Brown, and Miss Flavilla Howard, were prominent amongst the Saints ; but the chief agitator was a beautiful young girl named Mary Lincoln, the daughter of the principal physician of the place. Dr. Lincoln and his family were Presbyterians, and viewed with great alarm the conversion of Mary to the doctrines of the Perfect Church. Still greater was their dismay, when they found that the young girl was not only a convert, but was becoming the most active and determined propa- gator of the new faith. In vain the Doctor remon- strated, raged, threatened. Mary had come into a new liberty of the spirit, which made all of her acts proper in her own eyes ; and she regarded the opposi- tion of her parents and friends as merely a part of the cross she was called upon to bear. Her courage was of the highest order, and she cared nothing for popu- lar censure, which, indeed, she disarmed, to a consid- AND ITS VOTARIES. 41 erable degree, by lier great beauty and her winning ways. Slie had lieard of what Lucina UmplireYille had done for the Saints in New York, and she was determined to occupy a similar position in the Church at Brimfield. Of course, the preachers of Perfection- ism gladly welcomed such an ally, and were at length brought so completely under the influence of her fas- cinations, as to be " but wax in her hands." Under her guidance, the younger women of the new Church ^J "^J^^ began a bold and vigorous crusade against " the world, the flesh, and the devil." They gloried in their new liberty, in the love they bore to all who were like themselves. They were not satisfied to fight the world ; they desired to provoke it into assailing them. They thought themselves martyrs in secret, and they coveted the crovni of open martyrdom. It w^as not long before they were successful. " Those who could see into this revival camp," says Hep worth ^Dixon, upon whose narrative this chapter is based, "unblinded by its passions, were keenly alive to the tendency already visible among its male and female guards to something more than gos- pel freedom. Friendship in the Lord appeared to have its own set of looks and tones. Much whisper- ing in corners, lonely walks at sundown, and silent recognitions, were in vogue. The brethren used a peculiar idiom, borrowed from the Song of Songs. A tender glance of the eye and a silent pressure of the hands were evidently two among the signs of this free-masonry of souls. All titles were put aside; every man was a brother, eveiy girl was a sister ; ex 42 FREE LOVE cept in tliose higher and nearer cases, in wJiicli the speaker seemed to have won the right of using a more personal and endearing name. When the tie between a preacher and a convert had become spiritually close, the word brother passed into Simon, the word sister into Mary. Here and there a more advanced disciple would offer and accept, like the German Mucker, a holy kiss." To the Saints themselves all this was right and proper, but the world saw in it much evil. Outsiders could not be brous^ht to believe that this intimate as- sociation of beautiful and impressible women with men of fire and vigor was altogether spiritual. It seemed to them mixed with a greater amount of un- holy than of holy love. .Else why these tender kisses — these mysterious signs and grips ? In short, the people of Brimfield came to regard the Saints as a very immoral set ; and the young women suddenly found that their characters for purity and modesty were utterly gone. Such a discovery would have been worse than death to them a year or two previous, but now it was joy unspeakable. It was the realization of their dear- est wish ; for it had been their greatest effort to do something which might ruin them in the eyes of the world, and prove how effectually they had trodden under foot the sense of shame. To kill this sense of shame — to show the world that they had done so — was in their eyes the highest proof they could give of their religious perfection. Had not the early Church called upon its disciples to do as much — to defy the AND ITS VOTARIES. 43 world, to take up tlie cross, and despise the sliame ? And should they hesitate to endure what so many of the blessed martyrs had borne before them ? They had boldly declared that, for them, all things were proper, all things were pure, and they felt that they must give some stronger proof of it than they had yet given, and they resolved upon an act which took even their friends by surprise. Their decision was arrived at while the Rev. Chauncey Button was away in New York, and while the Eev. Simon Lovett was gone to New Haven. The Rev. Tertius Strong did duty in place of these leaders, but he was not equal to the task of restraining the infatuation of his " beautiful sisters." Simon Lovett had gone to New Haven to hear from the lips of John Humphrey Noyes, the ablest of all the Perfectionist preachers, the new doc t^ia^^^vtha^ Second Coming of Christ, whic£IS^Jatt§L.had, begun to preach. He reached New Haven a skeptic, but Noyes soon converted him, and the result was, that Lovett brought Noyes back to Brimfield with him, to preach the new doctrine to the Church at that place. The Massachusetts Saints received the new preach- er with evident distrust, but flocked to hear his doc- trine. Undaunted by this, Noyes read to them the fourth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, teUing them that it must be accepted simply in its literal sense; that there was no metaphor about it, but that the words conveyed their primary and most rigid meaning — nothing more nor less. Christ, he said, had already come the second time, and hence- 44 FREE LOVE fortli man must be saved from sin merely by tlie power of faith. For those who had faith, salvation was complete; they would sin no more, but would be as the angels of God in holiness. The effect of this bold declaration was electrical. The Saints at once accepted tlie reasoning of their great preacher, and all but a few became his converts. The most intense excitement prevailed throughout the village. The wonderful story of the new faitb was told everywhere. The men were profoundly affected by it, but the women were thrown into a kind of delirium whicli was . as sweet and thrilling as it was dangerous. What mattered to them the opinion of the world ? what need they care for the loss of their good names ? Were not they saved from sin ? Were not they reconciled to God, and incapable of sin ? 'Nojes was the hero of the hour. He had brought tlie blessed tidings to the Saints; he had been the chosen one to receive and proclaim the new revelation ; and in the eyes of the women by w^hom he was sur- rounded, he was something more than mortal, and but a little less than divine. To him they looked for com- fort — for that peace of soul for whicb they longed so ardently. His position was pleasant beyond expres- sion, but he felt that it was dangerous. Maria Brown called him her " beloved," and Mary Lincoln's soul seemed wrapped in his. Surrounded daily and hourly by these bright and beautiful women, hampered by no social restraints in his intercourse with them, Noyes began to taste the dangers as well as the bliss of spir- itual love. Maria Brown's soft hands sent thrills of AND ITS VOTARIES. 45 passion througli every fibre, and Mary Lincoln's sweet kisses burned upon his lips with a fire which he felt was not holy. The music of those tender voices, the love which glowed in those unsuspicious eyes, were so many snares for him. Preacher and apostle though he was, Noyes felt that he v^as but a man, and that he was in danger of falling. It was in the midst of his triumphs that this feel- ing came to him, and it filled him with dismay. With the warm pressure of those fair hands still clinging to his, the tender kisses still burning upon his lips, and his whole soul stirred into a tumult by the eloquent glances of those bright eyes, Noyes locked himself in his chamber and fell upon his knees. The flesh was very weak in him, and it was very hard to go away from so delightful a place. All night long he watched and prayed^ and sought counsel from God in his sore distress. " At length," he says, " I got a clear view of the situation, and received what I believed to be ^ orders to withdraw.' " He lost no time in obeying what he conceived to be the heavenly mandate. Ris- ing at once, he crept from the house. It was the month of February ; the snow was on the ground, and the temperature was below zero. The night was dark, and the wind was piercing cold. The humanity of the man shrank from the cheerless scene, but the spirit was strong within him. Striking across the country, on foot, he took a direct line for his father's house in Putney, Vermont. All through the darkness and the bleak day which followed, this man fled with a speed which seems almost marvellous. Hunger, 46 FREE LOVE thirst, cold, fatigue, were unheeded by him. Hag- gard and wild-eyed, he hurried on. The fire in his brain gave him warmth from the cold ; the fear at his heart gave him strength to support the fatigue. Not once did he turn backward ; destruction and death lay behind him. He must go forward, through ice and snow, over mountain and dale, across frozen streams and through thorny thickets. At the close of twenty-four hours his long journey came to an end, and he reached his father's house at Putney, Vermont — sixty miles distant from Srimfield, He was half dead with fatigue, his feet were blistered and swollen, and his face was cut with the bleak wind. Physically he was prostrated ; spiritually he was triumphant. He had made a noble fight for his soul — for the souls of the lovely women whose fanaticism had well-nigh ruined him and them — and he stood now upon the highest moral ground to which he has ever attained. In estimating his character, let us not forget to weigh this act of heroism against his evil deeds. It was well for Noyes that he fled so promptly ; but his disappearance excited no sui3)rise among the Brimfield Saints. They said he had been caught away by the Spirit to do his work elsewhere, and his disappearance only served to heighten the excitement at Brimfield. It did more : it determined Mary Lin- coln and Maria Brown to carry out the plan upon which they had already resolved — to do something which should thoroughly convince the world that they had killed the sense of shame. Accordingly, two nights after Noyes left Brimfield, these young AND ITS VOTARIES. 4? women were caugM, in the dead of tlie night, in the bedchamber of the Kev. Simon B. Lovett. It seems that they had gone to his room and aroused him from his sleep, and had then suffered themselves to be taken in the act. There can be no doubt that, had Noyes remained at Brimfield, their visit would have been made to him ; and, with such feelings in him as had caused his flight, the reader may imagine what the consequences would have been. Lovett was not so tempted, and the girls, who really meant no harm, were safe in his hands. Mad as the act was, it seems plain that it was without evil results. Noyes emphat- ically declares : " I had no reason to believe that any act of real licentiousness took place, but that the ' bundling ' was performed as a bold self-sacrifice for the purpose of killing shame and defying public opin- ion. I confess that I sympathized to some extent with the spirit of the first letters that came to me about this affair, and sought to shelter rather than condemn the young women who appealed to me against the storm of scandal which they had brought upon themselves." The public were not so well satisfied of the inno- cence of the parties concerned. The fact that Mary Lincoln and Maria Brown had been caught in their pastors room in the dead of the night, under very questionable circumstances, together with the suspi- cions already entertained against the Saints, roused a storm of scandal throughout the township, and the story was told all over New England. Men and women of all shades of opinion were fully convinced 48 FREE LOVE that tlie young girls and their pastor had been taken in the commission of an act of licentiousness, and re- fused to believe the declarations of the parties con- cerned, that they were innocent of harm. " Does reli- gious love," they incredulously asked, "prompt a beautiful woman to visit the bedchamber of her pas- tor secretly, and under the cover of the night ? " The world discussed the affair as a rare bit of religious depravity, and from that hour the two young women had their wish — their characters were forever blasted. The blow fell very hard upon the family of Mary Lincoln. Her father refused to receive her into his house again, but lodged her with a Mrs. Alice Tarbell — also a Perfectionist — who promised to watch over her. " When it was known that Mary had been sent away from home (cast out, they said, for the sake of Christ), her friends came flocking to her side — Maria Brown, Abby Brown, Flavilla Howard, and many more — who began to praise the Lord, to sing and dance, and kiss each other in a frantic way. Mary told these sisters in the Lord that her father was pos- sessed by a devil ; and, when he came to see and talk with her in Mrs. TarbelFs house, she smote Tiim on the face, in order to cast it out. Next *day she left her friend Alice and went to another house, with every symptom of insanity upon her. During that day she announced that the town of Brimfield would be burnt with fire, like the cities of the plain, described in the book of Genesis, and that all wlio would save them- selves alive must fly with her to the top of a neigh- boring hill. Maria Brown would have gone with her AND ITS VOTARIES. 49 Mend, but lier sister Abby clung to lier and held Iier back. Mary Lincoln and Flavilla Howard fled alone; and, in their hurry to escape from the fiery hail, they threw off most of their clothes, and pushed through the thick scrub, the heavy snow, and the dismal swamps, to the hill base. There they paused and prayed, when the Lord (as they afterwards said) hearkened to their voice, withheld the fires, and let the judgment pass. "The poor girls lost their way, and wandered about, they knew not where. Deep in the night they came to a farmhouse, and begged for a shelter from the biting cold. They had thrown away their shoes, and their clothes were torn to rags. Their flesh was all but frozen ; and for many days these hapless hero- ines lay in the log-shanty at the point of death." ^* The feeling . which impelled these poor girls to their mad acts, is shown in the following letter from Mary Lincoln to John H. Noyes : "Mount Sion, Eternity. " My Brother : — Your spirit being the only one in the clay in which mine finds rest, you will not think it strange that I write you so soon again. My soul goes out after some mighty spirit in which it may hide itself a while from the storm. Through the kindness of our Father, many and mighty are my trials just now. The devil never spited me as he now does, for I see his art, and fear not to unmask him. I * " Spiritual Wives." 50 FREE LOVE have seen tlie Man of Sin revealed in tlie Perfection- ists, in tlie building up of tlie Jewish temple, and most manifest where its adorning is most lovely. Is it not so ? Has not God laid it even with the dust, and can aught but Satan rebuild it ? Has not God pronounced a woe upon it ? And shall not we. His children, say Amen? I still try the Saints here. They say that I am taking steps that another has not. I know that my steps in the desert are not in the sand ; and if the Lord leads me in untrodden paths, I shall go praising the God of Israel, who is my Guide. I feel that He has led me past all but you, for He will not permit me to have fellowship with any other, but strengthens me with communion with the spirits of the air. Yes, my brother, soon God in me will stand in front of the battle. He is mastering my strength by His burning love to war with hell's blackest fury. God has shown me by His wisdom, that, by the art- lessness of females, the armies of the aliens would be put to flight, and the victory won. God has chosen weak things to confqijnd the wise. Through^^s;^the war began *f"^hfough Eves it is continued; through them''tt will be closed, and a declaration of eternaT -^ ;■ SEependence made to the joy of all who sigrnT You see, ^I am for war.' God has armed me In a^ manner that the world thinks does not become a onS^ timid female ; but according to the gift I now feceiYep"*^ 1 act When it pleases my Father to make me more ■; lovely, I shall be pleased to be so. I feel that His I work, through me, will be short and mighty. My spirit is becoming too powerful for its habitation. I AND ITS VOTARIES. 51 stand almost alone here. Many doubt me, and yet God lias given me power over all tlie Saints. I have as much liberty in meeting, and am as much at home as in my father's kitchen. The last one that I v^as at, the Lord led me and Sister Maria, and Samuel T., to walk the floor, sing * Woe, woe to Babylon,'' and talk and laugh as much as we had a mind to. It was a trial to some of them, but they could not help them- selves. The Lord gave me perfect power over them all in so doing. I told them I should talk all night if the Lord led me to. Most of them are following after; God is leading them into the truth, yet they do not know it. Deacon Tarbell is much blessed ; Sister Hannah is very sweet, and Sister Maria is very strong and bold. " Maey." Mary Lincoln recovered from her sickness to renew her efforts in behalf of the Perfect Church. She be- came a convert to the doctrine of spiritual marriages, which the Rev. Erasmus Stone had brought from New York, and began to look around her for her natural mate. She soon discovered him in the Rev. Chauncey Button, who promptly accepted her as his spiritual wife. These two travelled about the country, preach- ing to all who . would hear them. People said they lived together in open shame ; but they claimed that they went about, like St. Paul and his female com- panion, to comfort and sustain each other, and that all carnal passions were dead in them. Eventually, how- ever, they were legally married. " They circulated as 52 ITIEE L07E spiritual leaders in New York and elsewhere for awhile," says Noyes, " and finally became flaming Mil- lerites. I had a letter of warning from her, dated March, 1843, calling on me to prepare for the end of the world. They both died long ago." Maria Brown managed to keep herself free from these ** spiritual " entanglements. She went to New York, where she sat at the feet of Lucina Uniphre- ville ; and, though she fully accepted the doctrine of " spiritual marriages," seems to have been content to forego her chance of finding a partner of this kind. The Kev. Jarvis Rider, as we have said, after part- ing from Lucina Umphreville, found his tme mate in' a married woman — a Mrs. Chapman, of Bridgeport, on Oneida Lake. She was young and pretty, very popular among her friends, and noted for her cordial hospitality. She had been one of the earliest converts to Perfectionism, and her house had always been one of the " headquarters " of the Saints. Upon the arri- val of Maria- Brown, Mrs. Chapman invited her, to- gether with Lucina Umphreville, and the Rev. Chas. A. Lovett and Rev. Jarvis Rider, to stay at her house. Here it was that Rider discovered the affinity existing between himself and Mrs. Chapman. Aided by Lovett and Lucina, he succeeded in persuading Mrs. Chapman to accept him as her spiritual husband. Lucina at once gave up her own claims to him, and agreed to transfer her spiritual affections to Lovett. People said that Rider took advantage of his spiritual privileges, and the confidence reposed in him by Mrs. Chapman's husband, to seduce that unhappy woman. AND ITS VOTARIES. 53 Thomas Chapman was away from home, at the time, engaged in work upon the Chenango Canal ; but so great was his confidence in his wife and in his " Per- fect " guests, that he gave himself no uneasiness con- cerning his domestic ajffairs, until it was told to him that Rider had taken advantage of his absence to de- bauch his wife. In great wrath he hurried home, fell upon the saintly 'destroyer of his peace, beat him into a jelly, and flung him out into the road. People said that he would have served the scoundrel right had he killed him ; but, to the intense astonishment of all persons, Chapman's farious rage soon died out, and he not only apologized to Rider for his violence, but brought him back to his house. " How he became reconciled to the preacher of spiritual wifehood," writes Hepworth Dixon, "I cannot pretend to say. Men, who do not seem to me crazy, tell me that Chap- man, when he raised his hand against the revival preacher, was stricken blind — not in a mystical and moral sense of the word, but that he really and com- pletely lost his sight. One man tells me that Chap- man went to 'New York to consult an oculist, and did not recover the use of his eyes for many months. In this affliction he begged the reverend gentleman's par- don, called him back into the house, and threw him- self on the floor in agonies of shame for having dared to assert his carnal mind in opposition to the will of God. Still, when his eyes were better, he got rid of his saintly guests, left the place of his shame, and sep- arated from his wife. Rider forgot his affinity for the cast-away wife, and, Mrs. Chapman being a woman of 54 FREE LOVE delicate constitution, this strife between her husband in the flesh and her partner in the spirit, put an end to her life." All these preachers of the new doctrine, save one man, either fell away from it into other vagaries, or failed to accomplish any decisive results by their labors. The one man who achieved any thing like substantial success was the " Apostle " who had fled from Brimfield by night. AND ITS VOTARIES. 55 CHAPTER 11. THE APOSTLE OF FREE LOVE. Birth of John H. Noyes. — His Early Life. — Religious Melancholy.— Studies Law. — Is Converted during the Great Revival of 1831. — Studies for the Univer- sity. — A Student at Andover. — Licensed by the New Haven Association. — Peculiar Religious Views. — ^Invents a New Theory as to the Coming of Christ — Is Deprived of his License by the Church. — His First Converts. — Abigail Mervui declares the New Faith unfit for a Pure Woman. — A Glance at Noyes' Doctrines. — ^Their Eflfect upon the Apostle. — Sinning, yet Sinless. -^rnf> lflTnat.inT^ y][ ^l^fi JtJfQfiyjlJ'ff; "f " Frftp^Lnvft" — ^A Startling Revelation. — Thc^^ liattle-Axe Letter." — ^J^Z^Jfli^^" ftf^Awmgwa a Social ism. — Real Meaning of the Document. — Noyes Removes to Putney, Vermont. — His Bible-Class. — He Commences to Teach them Immorality.— His Means of Government. — The Law of Sympathy. — Lack of Money. — Critical State of Affairs. — ^Noyes' Opposition to Marriage Involves him in a Dilemma. — His Resolve. — Letter to Miss Harriet A. Holton. — The Strongest Love-Letter ever "Written.— ^Noyes Declares his Intention not to Regard the Marriage Vow. — A Free-Love Courtship. — Harriet Accepts. — Marriage of Noyes and Miss Holton. — The Bride's Fortune Expended in Founding a Free-Love Establishment. — The Putney Bible-Family. — Life at Putney. — Licentious- ness of the Disciples. — Noyes enforces Discipline. — Indignation of the Pub- lic. — The Bible-Family regarded as Living in Open Indecency. — Attacks of the Gentiles. — Troubles of the Saints. — Putney becomes " Too Hot to Hold Them." — A Removal Necessary.-— A Home Purchased in Madison County, New York. — Removal to Oneida.--Establishment of the Oneida Community. — ^Arrival of Recruits. — Changes in the Mode of Life. — Noyes Commands his Disciples to Enjoy themselves. — Free Love and Licentiousness prac- tically Inaugurated. John Humphrey Noyes was born at Brattleboro, Vermont, on tlie 3d of September, 1811. Vermont having given to the world Joseph Smith, Jr., and 66 FREE LOVE Brigliam Young, may therefore be said to be the mother of the two great " modern ideas " of Mormon- ism and Free Love. Mr. Noyes comes from the old Puritan stock, his ancestors having settled in Newburyport, Massachu- setts, in 1634. His father was the Hon. John Noyes, a graduate of Dartmouth College, the tutor of Daniel Webster, and a member of Congress. He at first studied for the ministry, but subsequently became a. merchant, and a very successful one. He died in 1841, leaving considerable property to his children. His wife, who was a Miss Hayes, of Connecticut, survived him, and died at the Oneida Community in April, 1866, at the age of eighty-six. John H. 'Nojes was brought up in his native town and in the neighboring' town of Dummerston, until he was ten years old, when he was sent to the Academy at Amherst, Mass., to begin his training for College. In 1826 he entered Dartmouth College, and in 1830, at the age of nineteen, graduated. He then entered the office of his brother-in-law, L. G. Mead, Esq., and began the study of the law. Meanwhile his father's family had removed to Putney, Vermont, and at the end of his first year's studies Noyes paid them a visit, and, while there, became interested in a revival of religion which was going on at that place — a part of the great revival from which sprang the Perfect Church in this country. He became very much troubled about his soul, and, losing all his former cheerfulness, gave himself up to gloom and medita- tion. In his " Religious Confessions," he says of this AND ITS VOTARIES. 57 period of Iiis life : " After a painful process of con- viction, in wliicli tte conquest of my aversion to becoming a minister was one of the critical points, I submitted to God, and obtained spiritual peace. With mucli joy and zeal I immediately devoted my- self to the study of the Scriptures, and to religious testimony in public and private. The year 1831 was distinguished as * the year of revivals.' New meas- ures, protracted meetings, and New York evangelists, had just entered New England, and the whole spirit of the people was fermenting with religious excite- ment. Thejnil^^^^^^^ ^^^^ supposed to be very near. I fully entered into the enthusiasm of the time ; and, seeing no reason why backsliding should be expected, or why the revival spirit might not be maintained in its full vigor permanently, I determined with all my inward strength to be * a young convert,' in zeal and simplicity, forever. My heart was fixed on the mil- lennium, and I resolved to live or die for it. Four weeks after my conversion I went to Andover, and was admitted to the Theological Seminary." He spent one year at Andover, and then entered the Yale Theological Seminary, from which he gradu- ated. In August, 1833, he was licensed to preach by the New Haven Association. His first labors were at North Salem, New York, as pastor of a small church at that place ; but his principal ministerial work was done in New Haven and the tovnis in the vicinity. While living here, he gave considerable attention to spreading the gospel amongst the negroes. "My heart," he says, in liis " Confessions," " was greatly 58 FREE LOVE engaged in this work. At Andover I had become interested in the anti-slavery cause, and, soon after I went to ^New Haven, I took part, with a few pioneer abolitionists, in the formation of one of the earliest anti-slavery societies in the country." While living at New Haven, Mr. Noyes embraced an entirely new plan of faith. His peculiar views were ahead of those of the New York and Massa- chusetts revivalists, already referred to, and have since received the name of Perfectionism. He held that the old order of things had entirely passed away. " Much reading of Paul's epistles led him to believe that the Christian faith, as it appears in the churches of Europe and America, even in those which style themselves Eeformed, is a huge historical mistake. There is no visible Church of Christ on earth. The Church of Paul and Peter was the true one — a com- munity of brothers, of equals, of Saints ; but it' passed away at an early date, our Lord having returned in the spirit, as He had promised, to dwell among His people evermore. On this second advent, Noyes says that our Lord abolished the old law; closing the empire of Adam, cleansing His children from their sin, and setting up His kingdom in the hearts of all who would accept His reign. Noyes fixes this spir- itual advent in the year 'TO, immediately after the fall of Jerusalem ; since which date, he says, there have been one true Church and many false Churches bear- ing His name — a Church of His Saints, men sinless in body and in soul, confessing Him as their Prince, taking upon them a charge of holiness, rejecting law AND ITS VOTARIES. 59 and usage, and submitting their passions tq His will ; and Churches of the world, built up in man's art and pride, with thrones and societies, prelates and cardi- nals and popes; Churches of the screw, the faggot, and the rack, having their forms and oaths, their hatreds and divisions, their anathemas, celibacies, and excommunications. The devil, says Noyes, began his reign on the very same day with Christ ; and the official Churches of Greece and Eome, together with their half-reformed brethren in England and America, are the capital provinces of the devil's empire. The kingdoms of the earth are Satan's; yet the Perfect Society, founded by Paul, into which Christ descended as a living Spirit, never quite perished from out of men's hearts, but, by the grace of God, kept an abid- ing witness for itself, until the time should come for receiving the apostolic faith and practice, not in a cor- rupted Europe, a worn-out Asia, but in the fresh and green communities of the United States. Some high and vestal natures kept the flame alive."* It was reserved for the young preacher at Yale to be the means of re-establishing this faith and practice. Previous to adopting these views, and while a student at Andover, Noyes had promised to devote his life to missionary labors. This promise he claims to have fulfilled in teaching the world the new faith. His friends were slow to believe that he was sincere in his new professions, but, once convinced of it, they set their faces sternly against him. His license to preach was taken from him by the Association which * " New America," by Wm. Hepworth Dixon, p. 896. 60 FREE LOVE had given it, his Mends deserted him, and he was universally regarded as a lunatic. Speaking of this, he says : '^ I had lost my standing in the Church, in the ministry, in the College. My good name in the great world was gone. My friends were fast falling away. I was beginning to be indeed an outcast. Yet I rejoiced and leaped for joy. Some persons asked me if I should continue to preach, now that the clergy had taken away my license. I replied , ^ I have taken away their license to sin, and they keep on sinning ; so, though they have taken away my license to preach, I shall keep on preaching.' " * This new doctrine did not fail to find acceptance with many persons. We have already shown with what success Noyes preached it at Brimfield, and how completely it unsettled its converts at that place. The labors of its originator in New Haven were, to a certain extent, successful. People came to him and accepted his teachings, and in a short while he found himself the head of a small band of Perfectionists. But, perfect as these Saints professed to be, they were not free from ambition — that sin by which the angels fell. Among the principal converts were the Rev. James Boyle and Abigail Mervin. Boyle seems to have aspired to be the leader of the new Church, and Abigail desired to become Mrs. Noyes. The prophet, however, was skeptical upon the subject of marriage, and loved power too well to wish to yield it to any man. Consequently these two, his best and most valuable converts, fell away, and at length openly * " Hand-Book of the Oneida Community," p. 8. AND ITS VOTARIES. 61 abandoned him, Abigail declaring in liigli dudgeon that the new religion verged upon indecency, and was hot a proper faith for a pure woman. It was a very sweet and pleasant belief — this new faith — but it had in it an element of weakness as at first preached. Man was perfect; he was no longer in sin. He had no longer the need of a mediator between God and himself He could save himself by the exercise of faith. Only let him have faith, and his salvation was assured. * Only let him have faith, and he would be pure and sinless. Strong in faith, he could not sin — he would be perfect. Being per- fect, he would be no longer under the law ; he would have no need of .a law, human or divine. His only rule would be the grace of God working in his soul, and shaping all his actions, all his impulses, in accord- ance with the Creator's will. Whatever he did would be pure and holy; he could not sin. Faith would make him perfect ; perfection would make him holy ; holiness would make him entirely free, — a delightful doctrine to those who could accept it ; but a weak one, inasmuch as Noyes' converts, when they had become perfect, holy, and free, refused to acknowledge even his authority, and separated themselves from him, each one becoming a law unto himself Thus did the prophet send from him his followers merely by the force of his own teachings. No religious reformer had ever gone so far. Even the Mormons stopped short of this perfect freedom which broke down eveiy law of God and man, and substituted for them the impulses of that human 62 FREE LOVE heart wMcli is " desperately wicked." Tlie effect of Ms own teachings upon Noyes himself was marked and peculiar. Until now he had led a life of strict morality and purity. He had avoided wine and strong drinks previous to his conversion to holiness, and he now began to drink deeply. Formerly he had been almost a Grahamite in his diet, now he indulged in the most highly-seasoned dishes. He had led a life of chastity and regularity — indeed, we have seen with what mad terror he fled from the temptations which threatened him at Brimfield ; now he gave himself up to licentiousness and riotous living. He became a vagabond. /jle was the companion of courtesans and thieves, and was a regular visitor to houses of ill-fame. Indeed, he completely and entirely changed his life, and it became as vile as it had formerly been pure. Yet he declares there was no sin in all this ; that, being pure in heart and full of faith, his conduct, though seemingly vile, was blameless. Hepworth Dixon, to whom he gave a more complete vindication of his course than he has yet offered to any one else, says : " In defending himself against men who cannot reconcile such a mode of living with the profession of holiness, Noyes asserts that he had given himself up to temptation, but the power in which he trusted for protection had been strong enough to save him. He had drunk, and gorged, and wantoned with the flesh, in order to escape from the bonds of system. As he puts the matter to himself, he said, ^ Can I trust God for morality ? Can I trust my passions, desires, pro- pensities, every thing within me which has hitherto AND ITS VOTARIES. 63 been governed by worldly rules and my own volition, to -the paramount mercy of God's Spirit?' He an- swered to himself that he could and would put his faith, his conduct, his salvation, in the keeping of the Holy Ghost ; and in this confidence, he says, he walked through the house of sin untouched, as the Hebrew children stood unscathed in the midst of the fire."^ There was no inconsistency between Noyes' profes- sion and his practice. The Perfectionist being free to follow his own impulses — sin being impossible with him — all things are lawful and pure to him. The wonder is, that any man of l^oyes' ability should be able to bring himself to believe that it was God's will that he should so debauch and degrade himself, or that it was the Spirit of God which led him into such acts. Mr. Noyes has given many proofs of the sincerity of his belief, but surely this cannot be taken as one of them. Deserted by his New Haven converts, Noyes went to his father's house in Putney, Vermont, where he remained for some time, meditating upon and endeav- oring to perfect his ^* perfect faith." During this time he came to the conclusion that marriage, as understood and practised by the world, is radically opposed to the doctrine of Perfectionism. The Perfect Saint, being free from all law, must of necessity be free from that of marriage. If it was lawful and pure for John H. Noyes to visit houses of ill-fame and " consort with strange women," it was equally lawful and pure for K * " New America," p. 399. I 64 FREE LOVE him to seduce his neighbor's wife. Noyes, however, went further than this, and asserted that no man had a claim upon a woman so strong as to justify him in possessing her to the exclusion of all other men. There being no law for the Saint, no man could com- plain of an invasion of his marital rights. Conse- quently there was no longer such an institution as marriage. Perfectionism abolished it. This bold doctrine, so utterly destructive of all that is good and noble in life, was first proclaimed to the world in a letter addressed to David Harrison, of Meriden, in Connecticut, dated January 15th, 1837. A copy of the letter came into the possession of Theophilus R. Gates, of Philadelphia, the editor of The Battle-Axe^ who published it in his paper. It is now known as the Battle-Axe Letter, and may be regarded as the fundamental law of socialism in the United States. It is as follows : " Deae Brother : Though the vision tarry long, wait ; it will come. I need not tell you why I have delayed writing so long, and why I am in the same circumstances as when we were together. I thank God that I have the same confidence for you as myself. I have fully discerned the beauty and drank the spirit of Habakkuk's resolution, ^ Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' AND ITS VOTARIES. 65 Yea, brother, I will rejoice in tlie Lord. Thougli He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. The present winter is doubtless a time of sore tribulation to many. I see the Saints laying off and on like the distressed ships at the entrance of New York harbor, waiting^ for. pilots ; and I would advise them all, if I could, to make a bold push, and * run in ' at all events. " For one, I have passed the Hook ; my soul is moored with an anchor sure and steadfast — the anchor of hope ; and I am willing to do what I can as a pilot to others. Yea, I will lay down my life for the brethren. " As necessity is the mother of invention, so it is the mother of faith. I therefore rejoice in the neces- sity which will ere long work full confidence in God — such confidence as will permit Him to save His people in a way they have not known ! In the mean- time, my faith is growing exceedingly. I know that the things of which we communed at New Haven will be accomplished. Of the times and seasons I know nothing. During my residence at Newark, my mind and heart were greatly enlarged. I had full leisure to investigate the prophecies, and came to many conclusions of like importance to those which interested us at New Haven. The substance of all is, that God is about to set a throne on His footstool, and heaven and earth — ^. ^., all spiritual and political dynasties — will flee away from the face of Him that shall sit thereon. The righteous will be separated from the wicked by the opening of the books and the testimony of the Saints. *The house of Jacob 5 66 FREE LOVE shall be a fire, and tlie house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. . . . Saviowrs shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau ; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's ; ' Oba- diah xviii. 21. Between this present time and the establishment of God's kingdom over the earth lies a chaos of confusion, tribulation, woe, &c., such as must attend the destruction of the fashion of this world J and the introduction of the will of God as it is done in heaven. " For the present, a long race and a hard warfare is before the Saints — i, e., an opportunity and demand for faith, one of the most precious commodities of heaven. Only let us lay fast hold of the hope of our calling; let us set the Lord and His glory always before our face, and we shall not be moved. I thank God that you have fully known my manner of life, faith, purpose, afflictions, &c., to the end that you may rest in the day of trouble ; for I say to you before God, that, though I be weak in Christ, I know I shall live by the power of God toward you and all Saints. I am holden up by the strength that is needed to sustain not my weight only, but the weight of all who shall come after me. I will write all that is in my heart on one delicate subject, and you may judge .for yourself whether it is expedient to show this letter to others. When the will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven, there will be no marriage. The marriage-supper of the Lamb is a feast at which every dish is free to every guest. Exclusiveness, jeal- ousy, quarrelling, have no place there, for the same AND ITS VOTARIES. 67 reason as that wMcli forbids the guests at a thanks- giving-dinner to claim each his separate dish, and quarrel v^ith the rest for his rights. In a holy com- munity there is no more reason why sexual inter- course should be restrained by law, than why eating and drinking should be; and there is as little occa- sion for shame in the one case as in the other. God has placed a wall of partition between the male and female during the apostasy for good reasons, which will be broken down in the resurrection for equally good reasons ; but woe to him who abolishes the law of apostasy before he stands in the holiness of the resurrection. The guests of the marriage-supper may have each his favorite dish, each a dish of his own procuring, and without the jealousy of exclusiveness. I call a certain woman my wife ; she is yours ; she is Christ's; and in Him she is the bride of all Saints. She is dear in the hands of a stranger, and according to my promise to her I rejoice. My claim upon her cuts directly across the marriage covenant of this world, and God knows the end. Write, if you wish to hear from me. " Yours in the Lord, " John H. ISToYES." Thus was the doctrine of Perfectionism established and proclaimed to the world. There was another result of this doctrine to which Mr. 'Nojes now began to give his attention. This was the abolition of personal property. The break- ing down of all law involved, of course, the loss of 68 FREE LOVE all individual rights. The rule must henceforth be a community of goods, and Noyes was resolved that such converts as he should gather around him in future should submit to it. The desertion of his friends in New Haven did not discourage him, and, after his settlement at Put- ney, Vermont, he began his labors afresh. He gath- ered together a small Bible-class, composed of the simple village folk, and began to teach them his new doctrine. They were not learned, and were very humble in position, but they were composed of the material of which Noyes desired that his future con- verts should be made. They had that deep-rooted love for novelty in religion so peculiar to New Eng- land, as well as the tenacity of opinion and firmness of purpose for which that section is distinguished. They were persons who would not 'shake off the spiritual yoke he designed imposing upon them ; and as he took them in their fresh and verdant state, he felt sure of shaping them according to his own will. Nor was he disappointed. Intellectually he was their superior, and they readily acknowledged his suprem- acy. His course was slow and gradual, his purpose being to convert his Bible-class into what he called a Bible-Family. Past experience had tanght him that perfect free- dom has its dangers, and common sense assured him that this principle would be fatal to any effort at association. Should he succeed in bringing his con- verts together to live under one roof as one family, there must be some means of control over them. AND ITS VOTARIES. 69 Having abolished tlie old law, it was difficult to set up another in its stead ; but the genius of the prophet enabled him to surmount the difficulty. He taught that even Saints must have some standard by which to test their actions, and that, although free from the lawy. they were still bound to act for their common happiness. Perfect Christians, he said, would always be in sympathy with each other. In a community of Saints, this sympathy would be the unwritten law by which each one must shape his conduct. A brother or sister acting at variance with the general wish of the community, could not, of course, be in sympathy with it, and therefore could not be doing the will of God. This principle, akin to public opinion in its operation, was therefore laid down as the fundamental rule for the government of the new Church; but it was long before it was definitely accepted by the Saints, who at the first seem to have been very reluc- tant to give up any of their new freedom. The most immediate difficulty which lay in Noyes' way, was his want of funds to carry out his plan. To gather his converts into ouq family, he must have a house in which to shelter them, and the means of providing for their support. His followers were poor, and he had not a cent. In this strait, he began to look about him for relief, and, with his usual inge- nuity, hit upon a feasible plan. There was among his converts, at Putney, a young lady named Harriet A. Holton. She was pleasing in person, of good family, and an heiress to a limited sum. This sum seemed large to Noyes, and he deter- 70 , FREE LOVE mined to get possession of it. It would enable him to carry his scheme into execution, and the money must be his. There was only one way in which he could get the money, however, and that was by mar- rying her. - Herein lay his difficulty. He had begun to denounce marriage as sinfal, selfish, and of the devil, and Harriet had heard him do so. How, then, could he propose to her to enter into that state which he had so often declared to her was opposed to all true holiness? Yet marry her he must; for her grandfather, who was her lawful guardian, as well as her only living relative, would not listen to any union unsanctioned by the law. Indeed, Noyes was not sure that the old man would receive even his offer of marriage favorably; but he resolved to make the venture. . His necessities were great, and Harriet's money was tempting. Accordingly, he wrote her a letter — the strongest declaration of love ever penned by mortal man — offering her his hand. The offer was coupled with such singular conditions, that we deem it best to give the letter in full. It was as follows : Putney, June 11, 18SS. " Beloved Sister : After a deliberation of more than a year, in patient waiting, and watching for indi- cations of the Lord's will, I am now permitted — and, indeed, happily constrained — by a combination of favorable circumstances, to propose to you a partner- ship which I will not call marriage till I have de- fined it. " As believers, we are already one with each other. AND ITS VOTARIES. 71 and witli all Saints. This primary and universal union is more radical, and, of course, more important, than any partial and external partnership ; and with reference to this, it is said, ' There is neither male nor female,' neither marrying nor giving in marriage, in heaven. With this in view, we can enter into no engagements with each other which shall limit the range of our affections, as they are limited in matri- monial engagements, by the fashion of this world. I desire and expect my yoke-fellow will love all who love God, whether they be male or female, with a warmth and strength of affection unknown to earthly lovers, and as freely as if she stood in no particular connection with me. In fact, the object of my con- nection with her will be, not to monopolize or enslave her heart or my own, but to enlarge and establish both in the free fellowship of God's universal family. If the external union and companionship of a man and woman in accordance with these principles is properly called marriage, I know that marriage exists in heaven, and I have no scruple in offering you my heart and hand, with an engagement to be married in due form, as soon as God shall permit. " At first I designed to set before you many weighty reasons for this proposal ; but, upon second thought, I prefer the attitude of a witness to that of an advocate, and shall therefore only suggest, briefly, a few matter-of-fact considerations, leaving the advo- cacy of the case to God — the customary persuasions and romance to your own imagination — and more par- ticular explanations to a personal interview. 72 FREE LOVE "1. In the plain speecli of a witness, not of a flat- terer, I respect and love you for many desirable quali- ties, spiritual, intellectual, moral, and personal ; and especially for your faith, kindness, simplicity, and modesty. " 2. I am confident that the partnership I propose will greatly promote our mutual happiness and im- provement. " 3. It will also set us free — at least myself — ^from much reproach and many evil surmisings, which are occasioned by celibacy in present circumstances. " 4. It will enlarge our sphere and increase our means of usefulness to the people of God. " 5. I am willing, at this particular time, to testify by example that I am a follower of Paul, in holding that * marriage is honorable in all.' " 6. I am also willing to testify practically against that * bondage of liberty ' which utterly sets at naught the ordinances of men, and refuses to submit to them even for the Lord's sake. I know that the immortal union of hearts — everlasting honeymoon, which alone is worthy to be called marriage — can never be made by a ceremony ; and I know equally well that such a marriage can never be marred by a ceremony. You are aware that I have no profession save that of a ser- vant of God — a profession which has thus far subject- ed me to many vicissitudes, and has given me but little of this world's prosperity. If you judge me by the outward appearance, or the future by the past, you will naturally find, in the irregularity and seem- ing instability of my character and fortune, many ! 1 1 j lif! 1 1 .! 1 , ! 1 \\ 1 'ji 1 ' ' 1 ' 1 1 1 ' ' i 1 y ,1 1 ' 1 i 1 \ J 1 1 RECEPTION OF A FEMALE CONVERT AT THE ONEIDA COMMnNlTV. AND ITS VOTARIES. 73 objections to a partnership. Of this I wilj^ only say, that I am conscious of possessing, by the grace of God, a spirit of firmness, perseverance, and faithful- ness in every good work, which has made the vaga- bond, incoherent service to which I have thus far been called, almost intolerable to me ; and I shall welcome Heaven's order for my release from it, as an exile after seven years' pilgrimage would welcome the sight of his home. I see now no reason why I should not have a ' certain dwelling-place,' and enter upon a course which is consistent with the duties of domestic life. Perhaps your reply to this will be the voice say- ing to me — * Watchman, let thy wanderings cease ; Hie thee to thy quiet home.' " Yours in the Lord "J. H. NOYES." "Whatever may be thought of this letter, its hon- esty cannot be questioned. Noyes makes no secret of the fact that he shall not regard the marriage as re- quiring him to " cleave only unto " Harriet, and tells her, in plain English, that the liberty he claims for himself he will accord her. He has never denied that he married her for the money she brought him. He says, the Lord gave her and her wealth to him, to reward him for proclaiming the truth. She must have been very anxious to become Mrs. Noyes, or she would hardly have accepted a suit based upon princi- ples so utterly at variance with all female ideas on the 74: FREE LOVE ' subject. Her grandfatlier does not seem to have in- terposed the least objection to Noyes. A few years before this, he had caused her to break off an engage- ment with a young man to whom she was much attached, and, alarmed by the illness into which her grief plunged her, he had sworn never to interfere in her love-affairs again, but to allow her to do as she pleased in them. So, when Noyes' suit, backed by Harriet's acceptance of it, was made known to him, he readily sanctioned it, and in a short while the young people were married. Harriet brought her husband seven thousand djl- lars ; and he expended this sum in building a house and printing-office, and in establishing a newspaper, in which he proceeded to set forth his peculiar religious and social views. During the life of Harriet's grand- father, the old man furnished them with the means on which they lived ; and, at his death, which took place soon after their marriage, left them nine thousand dol- lars in cash. Having now the necessary funds, 'Nojes gathered his family of Saints together, and began the practice of his new system. This family at first consisted of his wife, his mother, his sister, and his brother. The organization was effected about the beginning of the year 1840, and other members were added to it dur- ing the seven years of its continuance at Putney, until the whole number was about forty. J^oyes and his relatives, " with a few preachers, farmers, doctors, and their wives and daughters, went to live in the same house ; setting up, as they oddly AND ITS VOTARIES. 75 phrased it, a brancli of tlie heavenly business in Put- ney, after a formal renunciation of the Republican Government, and an everlasting secession from the United States. " And now began for them a new life, more dar- ing, more original, than that which Dana, Ripley, and Hawthorne tried to follow at Brook Farm. They stopped all prayer and religious service, they put down Sunday, they broke up family ties, and, with- out separating any body, put an end to the selfish rela- tions of husband and wife. All property was thrown intb a common stock ; all debts, all duties, fell upon the Society, which ate in one room, slept under one roof, and lived upon one store. At first they were strict and stem with each other; for, written codes being all set aside as things of the old world, they had no means of guiding weak, of controlling wicked brethren, save that of free criticism on their conduct — a system of government which had yet to become a saving power. The life was somewhat hard. Three hours were spent each morning in the hall : one hour in reading such books of history as might help them to understand the Bible better ; one hour in silence, or in reading the Scriptures ; a third hour in discuss- ing the things they had read and thought. Midday was given to labor on the farm ; evening to study, reading, music, and society. One person gave lessons to the rest in either Greek or Hebrew ; a second read aloud some English or German writer on hermeneu- tics ; and a third stood up and criticised his brother Saint. In the midst of these incessant labors, the old 76 FREE LOVE Adam appeared among tliem and slew their peace. One man ate too much, a second drank too much, a third ran wild in love. Strife arose among the breth- ren, leading in turn to gossip among their neighbors, to queries about them in the local press, to attacks in the surrounding grog-shops, and, at length, into suits in the Gentile courts. What they had most to fear in their little Eden, was gospel freedom in the matter of goods and wives. " Noyes admits that the devil found a way into the second Eden as into the first ; and that in Putney, as in Paradise, the Evil One worked Sis evil will through woman. When the moral disorder in his little para- dise could no longer be hidden, he became very angTy and very sad. How was he to bear_thig-c3:^ J A sudden change from legal restraints to gospel libeii^ies must needs be a trial to the lusts of man. But how could he make distinctions in the work of God ? God had given to man his appetites, passions, and powers. These powers and appetites are free. Desire has its use and faculty in the heavenly system ; and when the soul is free, all use implies the peril of abuse. Must, then, the Saints come under bonds ? He could not see it. Aware that many of his people had dis- graced the profession of holiness, he still said to him- self, in the words of St. Paul, * Must I go back be- cause offences come V To go back, was for him to tear up his Bible and lay down his work. Such a return was beyond his desire and beyond his power ; so he labored on with his people, curbing the unruly, guiding the careless, and expelling the impenitent. AND ITS VOTARIES. 77 As he put the case to himself: If a man were moving from one town to another, he could not hope to do it without moil or dirt ; how, then, could he expect to change his place of toil from earth to heaven, without suffering damage by the way ? Waste is incident to change. His people were unprepared for so sharp a trial ; and the quarrels which had come upon them, scandalizing Windham County, and scattering many of the Saints, were laid by him to the account of those as yet unused to the art of living under grace." ^^ The free-love doctrines and practices of Noyes' Society gave great offence to the Gentiles of Wind- ham County, who could not accept as an act of holi- ness that which both law and public opinion de- nounced as a degrading crime. In the eyes of the people of the neighborhood, Noyes' establishment was an immense brothel, and one which ought to be sup- pressed. The better classes contented themselves with denouncing the affair in unmeasured terms ; but the lower class, and especially the " roughs " of the bar- rooms and groceries, indulged in frequent acts of hos- tility towards the "Free-Lovers." This annoyance grew greater every day, and, at length, !N"oyes found that Putney was becoming too hot to hold his Bible- Family. It was evident that a longer stay in that place would be productive of greater trouble, and might result in the disruption of the little Commu- nity. A removal was therefore resolved upon, and a new location for the Saints was promptly secured. In the county of Madison, in the State of New * "New America," p. 408-409. 78 FREE LOVE York, not far from tlie village of Oneida, v^as a valley of great beauty and considerable fertility, so complete- ly sbnt out from tbe world, and yet vritbin snch easy reacli of it, that nature seemed to liave designed it as a refaere for tbose wbo had cast the world behind them. The soil was almost virgin. The valley had been a section of the lands reserved to the Oneida Indians, who had parted with it in preference to culti- vating it ; and the man to whom they had sold it had done little more than burn down the trees for the pur- pose of clearing up the land. A few log huts were scattered through the valley, and a creek, clear and swift, watered it. Noyes was charmed with the place, and commenced negotiations with its owner for its purchase. He was successful; the land passed into the possession of the Community ; the property at Putney which could not be removed, was rented on favorable terms, and on the 26th of November, 1847, the Saints left Vermont for Oneida. Upon reaching Oneida, they were joined by Mary Cragin and her husband, together with some others. They threw all their possessions into a common fand, erected a frame house and the necessary outbuildings, and fairly laid the foundations of what has grown into the flourishing Community of to-day. The new Bible-Family announced itself as a branch of the visible kingdom of heaven. Many of the Saints having been at Putney, they had some experi- ence in the ways of grace : and Noyes laid down for them a rule in their new home, which a Gentile would have thought superfluous at Oneida Creek — the duty AND ITS VOTARIES. 79 of enjoying life. At Putney, said he, they had been too strict — studying overmuch — dealing too harshly with each other's faults. In their new home, Heaven would not ask from them such rigors. If God, he asked them, had meant Adam to fast and pray, would he have placed him in a garden tempted on every side by delicious fruit ? Man's Maker blessed him with appetites, and turned him into a clover-field ! And what were these Saints at Oneida Creek ? Men in the position of Adam before the Fall ; men vnthout sin ; men to whom every thing was lawful because every thing was pure. Why, then, should they not eat, drink, and love to their hearts' content, under the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit ? ["They made no rules, they chose no chiefs. Every man was to be a rule to himself, every woman to her- self ; and as to rulers, they declared that nature and education make men masters of their fellows, putting them in the places which they are born and trained to fill ; — another way of saying that God was to rule in person, with lN"oyes for His visible pope and king. All property was made over to Christ ; and the use of it only was reserved for those who had united themselves to Him. The wives and children of the family were to be as common as the loaves and fishes ; the very soul of the new Society being a mystery very difficult to explain in English phrase." ^ For nearly twenty-three years this Community has conducted its operations from its " Home " at Oneida. At first its career was marked with difficulties, disap- * " New America," p. 412. 80 FREE LOVE pointments, and disagreements ; but it gradually sur- mounted these, and bas now overrun its original bounds, and expanded into two similar settlements — the one at Willow Place, in the same county, and the other at Wallingford-, Conn: ; both branches being under the control of the parent organization. AND ITS VOTARIES. 81 CHAPTER III. THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. From New York to Oneida. — A Night on the Hudson. — Ride over the New York Central Railroad. — Oneida. — A Flourishing Village. — Ride Across the Country. — A Visit to the Oneida Community. — First Sight of a Saint in Bloomers, — The Reception-Room and its Appointments. — The Visitors' Register. — Brother Allen. — A Busy Little Saint. — A Courteous Guide. — The Community Mansion. — Inspired Architecture. — The Cellars. — How the Edifice is Heated. — A Model Kitchen. — Inspired Cooking. — Meal-Ticket System.— The Library.— A " Perfect " Collection.— Brother Pitt.— The Mu- seum. — The Family Hall. — Amateur Musicians. — Inspired Theatricals. — The Family Meetings. — Scenes in the Hall. — The Private Apartments. — The Upper Sitting-Room. — The Bed-Chambers. — The Old Mansion. — The Dining- Hall. — How the Saints Fare. — The Community Wine.-^How the Day is Divided. — Saintly Waiters and Dumb Waiters. Taking tlie evening boat from New York for Albany, I had a pleasant sail up tbe Hudson, together with a good night's rest, and reached Albany in time to embark in the Western-bound train which left the latter city at 7.S0 a. m. A dull and dusty ride of nearly six hours, across as tame a country as the Con- tinent can boast of, brought me to the flourishing town of Oneida, in Madison County, where I pro- posed to establish my headquarters during my inves- tigations of that singular Community whose history I have traced in the preceding pages of this work. 6 82 • FREE LOVE Oneida is a creation of the New York Central Kailway. Previous to tlie building of tliat road, only a few farmhouses stood in its vicinity ; Oneida Castle, about two miles back from the railway, being the only settlement in the neighborhood. A station was established on the site of the present town, and in a little while it was found that Oneida Castle was too far away from the road. A few houses sprang up around the depot, and since then the place has gradu- ally attained its present proportions. It is located in Lenox township, and is as pretty and well-built a town as can be found in Western New York. It has a population of four thousand souls, boasts a couple of hotels, two newspapers, and several pretty church- es, and bears every outward indication of enterprise and prosperity. It is the centre of a flourishing agri- cultural district, and a place of considerable trade. The Midland Eailway — the new road from Bingham- ton to Lake Ontario — crosses the New York Central here, and will doubtless add much to the prosperity of the town. When I had made my arrangements for going over to the " Community," my landlord kindly procured me a buggy and a driver, and I set off on my visit to the Saints. The young man who drove my convey- ance had formerly been an employe in the machine- shop of the Saints for several years, and was- disposed to be communicative. I availed myself of this incli- nation on his part to draw from him such information as he possessed concerning the people into whose re- treat I was about to enter. AND ITS VOTARIES. 83 A drive of a little over half an hour "brought us to the Community farm, a fine domain lying in a love- ly valley. Every inch of ground bore evidence of the careful cultivation which the Saints had bestowed upon their heritage, and the fences and outbuildings were in the best condition. The roads were mended with care as long as they skirted the farm, and were in striking contrast with those beyond the confines of this modern Eden. Alighting at the front door of the principal build- ing, I was admitted by a smart-looking young woman in a bloomer dress, and, upon asking for Mr. Noyes, was ushered into the reception-room. I found myself in a large, airy apartment on the first floor, whose windows on both sides looked out on the lovely lawn which surrounds the house. The walls are plain, the ceiling is tolerably high-pitched, and the light and ventilation of the apartment are excellent. A well-executed photograph of John H. Noyes hangs near the door leading into the main hall, and on the opposite side of the room is an engraving of Church's " Niagara." A mahogany stereoscope, filled with views from various parts of the world, stands on a table placed by one of the windows. Be- sides these views, it contains two portraits — one of Edwin Booth and the other of Anna Dickinson. These being the only Gentile faces that I saw at the Com- munity, I could not help wondering what particular fancy had led the Saints to choose them. The furni- ture of the room is simple but handsome, consisting of a sofa and chairs of mahogany, covered with black 84 FREE LOVE liorse-hair clotli, and several tables of the same wood. A neat ingrain carpet covers the floor, and the win- dows are draped with curtains of a warm, cheerful color. Near the door, on a small table, is the regis- ter, in which all visitors are expected to record their names. It is very w^ell filled, showing that, on some days, the visitors to the place are counted by the score. Another fact that I learned from the register is, that the majority of the visitors to the establish- ment are women. They come here not only from the surrounding counties, but from all parts of the Union. Scattered over the tables are a number of books and pamphlets, some of them the works of Mr. Noyes, others of a miscellaneous character. In a few minutes one of the Saints entered the room, and informed me that, as Mr. Noyes could not receive me just then, he would take pleasure in show- ing me through the establishment. He introduced himself as Mr. H. G. Allen, and I afterwards found him to be the business manager of the Community's agency in New York city. He was a keen, wiry little man, with a florid face and sandy hair. He seemed all nerves and brain, with no more flesh and blood about him than was absolutely necessary to constitute him a human being. He never met my gaze fairly, but his eyes kept searching my face with quick, stealthy glances, as if he would read my secret thoughts, but was fearful of betraying his own. The face was keen rather than intellectual ; and I am sure the Community could not trust to a shrewder brain for the management of its interests. The mouth was AND ITS VOTARIES. 85 sensual and the least pleasant feature of the face, and he had a habit of smacking his lips and half closing his eyes, as if rolling some imaginary sweet under his tongue. He told me he had been in the Community for thirteen years, and volunteered much interest- ing information concerning its history and material growth ; but when I questioned him concerning the peculiar socialistic features of the place, he became more silent and reserved. £This I found to be the case with every Saint with whom I conversed. " Here are our works," they say to the world. " Come and see them. We have nothing that we are unwilling should be known. . . . We do nothing in secret." Yet, when the Gentile inquirer seeks to prove the truth of this assertion, he is met at the outset by a degree of reserve and evasiveness which can but convince him that, in spite of their protestations, the Saints are very unwilling to make known all their practices to the world. I found Mr. Allen very obliging and courteous. Every thing about the place was thoroughly familiar to him, and I could have had no better guide. The results of this tour of inspection I purpose embody- ing in this chapter. . The domain of the Oneida Community comprises \ 664 acres of land, and a number of buildings of brick and of wood. The new railway — the Midland — pass- es diagonally across the farm for about a mile, in the rear of the, dwellings. The Saints gave the right of way to the Company upon condition that the latter would erect a freight and passenger depot at the Com- 86 .FREE LOVE munity, and make it a regular station of their road. These conditions have been complied with. The depot buildings are of frame, are neat and tasteful,, and stand just back of the dwellings. The Saints are exerting themselves to make the grounds immediately surrounding the " station " as attractive as those on the opposite side of the farm. The main building of the Community is of brick. It is 188 feet long by TO feet wide. This is the " Home," or " living house," of the Saints. The north wing contains the apartments of the adults, and the south wing is devoted to the children and their at- tendants. The building is of brick, with stone, trim- mings, and consists of a centre and two wings, with a tower at each end. It is quite a handsome and im- posing structure. In the reai: is an extension, which is about 100 feet long. The edifice was designed and erected by Mr. James Hamilton, formerly a farmer and carpenter. He is a New England man, and is shrewd and keen. He is the immediate head of the Oneida Community, Mr. Noyes having the general supervision, if I may so speak, of all the settlements of the Saints. Hamilton seems to have had a contempt for the laws of architec- ture, for he has ignored the most of them in the con- struction of this edifice. He claims that his plans are the result of inspiration, and that every detail of the building, from the placing of a rafter to the arrange- ment of the principal hall, is the result of a direct communication from heaven. Brother Hamilton is a good carpenter, if a poor architect ; for the work on AND ITS VOTARIES. 87 tlie building is well done, and of a very .substantial character. The foundations of the edifice are very interesting, and are worthy of a visit. A stairway at the rear of the main hall leads to them. The apartments here, though called basements, are some distance under ground, and are really cellars. The walls are stout and admirably built, and enclose a series of passages into which open a number of subterranean apart- ments, all of which are in use by the Saints. The length of these basem'ent and partition walls is over one-third of a mile. Opening from the passages are the store-rooms, in which are kept the fruits and other good things laid up by the Saints for their winter use. They are arranged in long bins, and present a tempt- ing show ; for the Saints pride themselves upon the excellence of their larder. Several of the apartments are used as bath-rooms, and are fitted up with every convenience for that purpose. In others, exotic plants are stored away during the winter, the genial warmth of the place rendering their preservation sure. An- other apartment ' still is used as a playroom for the children during inclement weather. Here the little folk, snug and warm, and sheltered from " the cold, the wind, and the rain," pass a large portion of their time, every effort being made to contribute to their comfort and happiness. The most interesting apai'tment in this portion of the building is that occupied by the steam-heating apparatus. Here is one of Phleger's steam generators, of thirty horse-power, and one of the best of this 88 FREE LOVE famous machine ever manufactured. The services of but one man are required to manage it, yet it does duty for tlie whole institution. By means of pipes cari'ied up through the walls and spread all over the establishment, it heats every room in this building, besides the vaults, and performs the same service for the new south building, which stands at some dis- tance back of the " Home." A mile and a half of iron piping is used for this purpose. This, however, is not the only service it renders : it drives a fine steam-engine, which is used for printing and manufac- turing silk twist, heats all the water needed on the place, and cooks the food prepared in the kitchen. It enables the Saints to entirely dispense with the use of stoves, and thus saves them a vast amount of trou- ble. Mr. Allen assured me that it did its work admi- rably, keeping the building warm and comfortable in every part, with the steam not needed for other pur- poses. From the boiler-room the visitor passes, by means of a subterranean archway, to the kitchen, which is located in the " basement " of the new brick building in the rear of the " Home." The engine-room adjoins this apartment. The kitchen is large and airy, and is exceedingly neat. fk. number of labor-saving ma- chines are in operation here, and the most improved utensils of all kinds are used in the cooking. Among the machines in use are a patent dish-washer, and a similarly protected potato-washer.| ' jThe former con- sists of a wire netting holding a number of plates, which are dipped by means of it in a tub of hot AND ITS VOTARIES. 89 water. Tlie cleansing process — thanks to this " mod- ern improvement " — is rapidly and thoroughly per- formed. The potato-washer is an immense tin cylin- der, revolving in a trough filled with water. The motion of the wheel through the water cleanses the potatoes, and prepares them for cooking. The cooking and kitchen- work are performed by male and female members of the Community, who alternate this with other duties. The operations are all conducted under the supervision of some elderly member, generally a man, whose experience in the culinary art enables him to direct the labors of his assistants intelligently. A number of young women were at work in the kitchen during my visit, making pies and other dainties. They claimed that no such pies were to be found outside of the Community, as here they were made according to the peculiar ideas of the Saints. Whether the pies were also the work of inspiration, I do not pretend to say, but they cer- tainly seemed to me to bear a wonderful resemblance to those for which every New England housewife is famous. The neatness and order of the kitchen, the admirable manner in which the food is prepared and cooked, and the perfect system which is manifest in every thing, would delight the most orderly house- keeper in the land. The use of steam renders the operations of the department very much cleaner and more expeditious than where ranges or stoves are used. It is no small matter to provide, food for a couple of hundred hungry mouths, and, of course, system and economy are in the greatest demand here. 90 FREE LOVE ^ Here is also tlie bakery, where three or four bar- rels of flour are weekly made into bread. The bread made here is especially good, and is the boast of the fair Saints who prepare it. They fully recognize the truth of the old adage, that it is the staff of life, and consume considerable quantities of it. The steam- range in the kitchen is one of the best in use, and is worth a visit from every guest of the Community. Those in charge- of the culinary department are usu- ally willing to discuss the mysteries of their art with visitors, and I am sure that many a valuable hint may be gained by housekeepers from the Saints, who re- gard " perfect " cooking as amongst the highest privi- leges of their high estate. Father Noyes is a believer in the duty of saving female labor, and, Avhen any new idea for accomplishing this desirable result is fairly developed in the outside world, he is one of the first to advocate the duty of making it serve to light- en the burdens of his " better halves." From the kitchen we passed back to the main hall of the principal building. On your right, as you enter from the lawn, is the parlor, or reception-room, already described, near which is a retiring-room with toilet conveniences for gentlemen. At the lower end of the hall, on the same side, but separated from the parlor by a small passage, is the visitors' dining-room. This is furnished simply but comfortably^, and is used for the entertainment of strangers. Visitors, a re not invited to stop over night at the Community, or to tarry to meals, but all who desire it can purchase meal-tickets and obtain their repasts in this room. AND ITS VOTARIES. 91 The sum asked for the meal is almost nominal ; but in the summer-months, when the rush of visitors is greatest, the Saints derive a considerable revenue from the sale of meal-tickets. Visitors to the " Home " are requested, in the official guide, to "procure their tickets as soon after arrival as convenient, to give the kitchen department suitable time for prepara- tion." Immediately opposite the reception-room is the business office of the Community — an apartment evi- dently meant for work. It is simple and plain in its arrangements, every thing being meant for use, and but little for ornament. Back of this is the library — a commodious and tastefully arranged hall. In the centre is a long read- ing-table, above which several lamps are suspended. Around the room are ranged the bookshelves, in alcoves, and ornamented with neat woodwork. The decorations of the apartment are in oak, and give it a quiet and studious air, which is admirably in keeping with its uses. The collection of books comprises about 3,300 volumes, systematically arranged, and consisting principally of works of science, history, biography, and theology. There is very little of what the world calls light-reading in the collection. The Saints, as a rule, do not believe in novels. They re- gard the time given to them as wasted, and their effect as pernicious. The tables are supplied with the cur- rent papers of the day, the illustrated weeklies of New York figuring prominently among them. Fash- ion-papers are not wanted, the Saints having a fashion 92 FREE LOVE of their own for tlie gentler sex, whicli, like the law of tlie Medes and Persians, " altereth not." The library is a pleasant room — to my mind the pleasantest in the house^ — and the papers and books are in constant demand. The members of the Com- munity pride themselves upon their intellectuality, and are very far from despising the wisdom of the world they have left behind them. The books are well thumbed, and almost every one gives evidence that it has been used by more than one reader. The librarian — Brother Pitt — is not only a most intelligent man, but, next to Father Noyes, is perhaps the best- read man in the Community. He is very proud of his position, and of his collection also. This much of the world clings to him still, and I think he would hardly care to shake it off if he could. A pleasant man is Brother Pitt, also ; and, if he is sure of not being interrupted, he can drop his saintly airs, and chat as interestingly about the world of letters and art as the most genuine Bohemian in the Quartier Latin. Leaving the library and ascending the staircase af the back of the main hall, I was ushered into a vesti- bule fitted up as a museum. It contains, now, about a dozen interesting pictures, and the nucleus of a mu- seum. The curiosities are arranged in glass cases, and to each is affixed a ticket upon which is recorded a description of the article and the name of the donor. •" Among the curiosities are a few animal remains, in- cluding the well-preserved tooth of a mastodon, some stalactites, old books, relics from Pompeii and Egypt, AJ^B ITS VOTARIES. 93 medals, Indian weapons, &c. A case of, birds, and one of insects, prepared by members of tlie Commu- nity, may be examined by persons interested in the science to whicli they belong." From this vestibule doors open into tbe family or meeting-ball — a large room 21 feet higL. It is fres- coed, and is a handsome and well-ventilated apart- ment, capable of containing about seven hundred peo- ple. It is surrounded on three sides by a gallery, which is provided with seats. The main floor is taken up with small tables and chairs, each table being fur- nished with a kerosene oil-lamp. The lamps are sim- ple but neat, and are provided with paper shades of various colors. The effect of so many small lamps on these tables, in addition to the lights suspended from the ceiling, is very curious. At the upper end of the hall are a couple of private rooms, one on each side. A piano and cabinet organ are to be seen in the hall, and furnish the Saints with music during their meet- ings. Several members of the Community are excel- lent performers upon other musical instruments, and, together with the players upon the piano and organ, constitute a capital orchestra. Musical entertainments are frequently given by the family in the evening, and to some of these strangers are admitted. Dur- ing the summer season, such entertainments for the benefit of visitors t o the Community are held every afternoon. At the upper end of the hall is a stage, raised about four feet above the floor, and provided with a drop-curtain. It is plainly fitted up, without scenery, 94 FREE LOVE and is liglited by kerosene oil-lani;f)s hung from tLe sides. Here tlie Saints give dramatic representations about once a v^eek, Sunday evening being the favorite occasion for such amusements. The idea of Saints giving theatrical performances on the evening of the Lord's day will doubtless strike the reader as a very unholy act ; but to these perfect beings, with whom sin is impossible, there is nothing wrong in it. Sun- day is no more with them than any other day, except that it is their principal time for enjoyment. The performances are very good, there being considerable native talent of this kind among the Saints. Miss Constance Noyes and Miss Edith Waters are the best among the female performers. The pieces given are light and sprightly, amusement being the end in view. The audience are in hearty symjDathy with the performers, and never fail to award them their full measure of applause ; of which, by the way, these Saintly votaries of Thespis are as fond as any actor on the Gentile boards. The members of the familv are very fond of these representations, and it is very probable that, ere long, the stage will be supplied with scenery, which will add very greatly to the effec- tiveness of the displays. No New York audience could evince a greater appreciation of the efforts of the players — and certainly none are so unvaryingly kind to them — as do the members of the Community. Each actor is the dear friend of every member of the audience, and all are trying to contribute to the enjoy- ment of their fellows. The Saints sit together in such AND ITS VOTAEIES. 95 positions as will most promote their bodily comfort, careless of rules, and enjoy the play with a gusto that is contagious. The children are always present on such occasions, and express their delight with the greatest heartiness. Lectures and readings are frequently given here, and always draw out the full strength of the Commu- nity, and of the branch Society at Willow Place. Mr. Noyes is the most popular lecturer, and, as he is a man of brains, rarely fails to elicit the profound atten- tion of his hearers. The principal use to which the hall is put, how- ever, is for the " family meetings," which are held here for an hour or two every evening. These meetings explain the peculiar arrangement of the tables and lights. The hall, at such times, presents a very inter- esting appearance. The lamps are all lighted, and around each table is gathered a group of Saints, male and female. Some are reading, some sewing, some knitting, some chatting, and some making love. At the opening of the meeting, Brother Pitt, the libra- rian, who has a good voice and is an excellent reader, generally reads aloud the news of the day from the papers received since the. last meeting. The New York dailies, being the fullest and most satisfactor}^, generally receive the closest attention. Then follows the discussion of business, or the reading of some in- teresting or popular work, or music. The family usu- ally separate for the night about ten o'clock. The meetings are always interesting, especially when some brother or sister is made the subject of the criticism 96 FREE LOVE of tie Saints. Then tlie proceedings are cmions in- deed, and would afford material for a volume. These constitute all the apartments usually shown to visitors, the remainder being the private rooms of the family. A few favored ones are, however, permit- ted to penetrate to the principal chambers in the wings. The most important of these is the " upper sitting- room," in the north wing. This is a plain and rather bare-looking apartment, the chief peculiarity of which is that it is a two-story room. It is arranged some- what on the plan of the Hall of Marshals in the pal- ace of the Tuileries, but, of course, is entirely unlike that gorgeous saloon in appearance. It is neatly car- peted, and the walls are ornamented with a number of engravings. The two stories are separated from each other by a narrow gallery or corridor, which runs around the inner walls of the room, and upon which the doors of the second-story chambers open. During the day the centre of the floor is occupied by a large table, and a bureau and mirror stand at one end of the room. On the north, west, and south, a double tier of bed-rooms opens into this hall, and on the other side the windows look out upon the lawn. During the day, the members of the family flit in and out of this room, which, though plain and simple, is one of the pleasantest in the house ; and here you may always find some of them engaged in reading, sewing, or gossiping. This being the favorite room of the house, the Saints prefer to pass as much of their time in it as they can spare from their duties. It is AND ITS VOTARIES. also tlie cliief lounging-place of the sick ar^d convales- cing members, and has, perhaps, more about it to attract the visitor who is permitted to enter it than any other apartment. The bed-chambers are small, as a rule, but are neat and well- ventilated. Some of the beds are single, but the majority are double. The furniture is plain and simple, and the rooms are generally without ornament. Every thing is scrupulously clean, and there is no confusion or slovenliness manifested anywhere. The rooms are numbered, like the state-rooms of a steam- er. Though each Saint has a chamber assigned to him or her, no one has an especial claim to it, every thing being held in common he;re. If Brother A., on going to his room at night, finds his place occupied by Brother B. or Brother C, he must not complain. There is no private property here. Adjoining the main building is the old mansion of the Community, a wooden edifice, now in process of removal. It is a plain and uninviting building, but is interesting as the home of the Saints during their early struggles. By the time these pages are in type, it will doubtless be numbered amongst the things of the past. In the basement of this building is the family dining-hall — a large, square apartment, occupied by a number of small tables. Here the family assemble for meals. The fare is simple. _Meat_js used to a limited extent, but those who eat it are not regarded as very far advanced in grace. The holiest Saints eat merely vegetables, fruits, and bread. Neither tea nor 7 98 FREE LOVE coffee, nor wine or spirits, are used. Tlie Saints make several kinds of home-made wine, but do not drink any except as a medicine. Perhaps they are wise in this, for their vintage is very far from being " perfect." The breakfast-hour is about seven, dinner at twelve, and supper at six in the evening. The dining-room is fitted up with less taste than any other room in the establishment, usefulness being held in higher esteem than beauty. A new dining-room is now being con- structed over the kitchen, and, as it will communicate with the latter apartment by means of a dumb-wait- er, will greatly lessen the burdens of the table-service. AND ITS VOTARIES. 99 CHAPTER IV. THE ONEIDA C0M3IimiTY. The Laundry. — Admirable Arrangements. — Washing-Day has no Terrors for the Saints. — The Saw-Mill. — The Seminary. — The Lecture-Room. — The Class in Chemistry. — Dr. Noyes. — Schools for the Children. — The Community Store. — The Trade with the Outside "World. — Inspired Tailors and Boot-Makers. — The Counting-Room. — The Female Book-Keepers. — ^A New Department of Holiness. — ^Brother Allen and the Black-Eyed Book-Keeper. — A Plump Saint in Short Skirts and Br€;£ches. — Yiew from the Tower. — The " Heritage of the Saints." — The Farm. — Perfect Agriculture.— Statistics of Farm and Orchard Produce. — ^The Stables. — Fine Horses a Result of Holiness. — ^New Arrangements. — The Midland Railway brings the Saints into direct Com- munication with the World. Back of tlie mansion is a new brick "building, used for tlie silk-works and printing-office. As we shall liave occasion to refer to this department again, we pass it by for tlie present. Seventy rods in a southern direction from the mansion is the laundry — a model establishment of its kind. It is fitted up with a steam-boiler, mangle, washing and wringing machines, and a drying-room. The work in this department is done by hired help, under the supervision of some of the old women Saints. About 4,000 pieces per week are turned out here with scarcely any trouble, so perfect are the arrangements for saving labor. 100 FREE LOVE Close by the laundry is the saw-mill of the Com- munity, used principally for making up such timber as is needed on the place. Ketuming up the road to a point nearly in front of the Community dwellings, we passed into the seminary. A room on the first floor has been fitted up as a lecture-room, with semi- circular rows of seats, each with a ledge in front for the note-books of the students. At th6 upper end of the room is a double door sliding into the wall, and separating the lecture-room from the chemical labora- tory. The outer side of the door is painted as a black- board, on which I found written, in chalk, a formula for an advanced class in chemistry ; and in the labora- tory was a class of Saints engaged in experimenting in acids. The Professor in charge of this department is Dr. Noyes, a son, according to the flesh, of John H. N"oyes. During my visit, I found him to be thor- oughly at home in his science, and from him I ob- tained much interesting . information both as to the Community and the process of dyeing silks, which is here performed under his direction. Dr. Noyes told me that some of his pupils had developed a very decided talent for chemistry, and would be of great service to the Community in the various departments in which knowledge and skill of this kind is needed. Some of the class that I saw were middle-aged men, and some were quite young. The seminary building is two stories high, and is provided with a tower. It is fitted up with class and recitation-rooms for the children of the Community, as well as the Saints themselves. Mr. Noyes and his AND ITS VOTARIES. 101 followers regard the education of a human, being as a never-ending labor. Those who desire mental culture, find many opportunities for it here; and such as wish to remedy the defects of early education, are afforded the means of doing so. Beyond the seminary is the store, which occupies the centre of a plain frame building. Here the Saints are supplied with such articles as are needed for either their personal or household use. pjiy outsider may purchase at this store ; and, as the articles for sale here are of the best quality, and the prices moderate, the Community does a thriving business with the Gentile world. The members are supplied with goods at cost, or at a small profit ; but outsiders must pay higher prices. The store is in charge of women. In the right wing of this building are the shoe and tail- oring shops, in charge of and carried on by members of the Community. The left wing is occupied by the counting-rooms of the Community. These offices are neatly fitted up, and are in charge of a male Saint, who exercises a general supervision over them. This Saint is Mr. Allen, I believe. The boohs are kept and the coitc- spondence carried on by females. There were two in the office at the time of my visit. One was a bright- eyed brunette, who, although apparently on the shady side of thirty, had by no means lost her good looks. The other was a plump, fat girl of twenty-four or twenty-five, with fair skin and red hair. She was not pretty, but a pleasant er and brighter face I did not see in the Community. These sweet Saints permitted 102 FREE LOVE me to look over their books in order to satisfy myself as to tkeir abilities in tkis particular department of holiness ; and I must say, that I never saw a neater, more systematic and comprehensive set of books in any business house in the Gentile world. I thought Brother Allen's manner was very tender towards the brunette, whose bright eyes and glossy locks might have turned a wiser head than that of the little Saint at my side. "While we stood looking over the books, I thought I detected some mysterious little telegraph- ing, at which the red-haired girl looked very demure. Brother Allen seemed in a high good-humor while we were in the office, and all the while rolled his imagi- nary sweet under his tongue more vigorously than ever. If the doctrine of affinities be correct, I am sure the Community has made a grave mistake if they have not paired these two. Brother Allen is a shrewd business man, and the pretty black-eyed Saint a good book-keeper — a bond of union stronger than any the Community can devise. Why should not these two be permitted to discuss the mysteries of commerce together in the nooks and walks of the " Home ? '' From the store we went back to the main build- ing, and ascended to the summit of the tower, from which the entire " heritage of the Saints " can be seen at a glance. It was indeed a lovely view which spread out before us, embracing, as it did, the whole valley watered by Oneida Creek. At our feet lay the lawn, with its neatly trimmed walks, the flower gardens with their pretty products just beginning to show themselves at the bidding of the Spring, and AND ITS VOTARIES. ^ 103 the rustic seats and arbors half concealed in shady nooks, charming the eye with their quiet loveliness. Beyond the lawn were the vineyards and orchards, and the broad acres of the Saints, in which the seed had just been placed. A gpodly heritage it was, truly, stretching away from the Home for upwards of half a mile in every direction, and seeming almost to meet the hills which shut in the valley. About a mile to the northeast, and on the Community farm, we could see the Willow Place Community^ with its substantial workshops. On every thing was plainly written success and prosperity ; and my guide seemed to think no view in the broad earth so complete and lovely as this. Descending from the tower, we strolled over the farm. The grounds immediately in front of the house are handsomely and tastefully laid off, and are exclu- sively for ornament, f To the north and west are the orchards and vineyaras, which are the pride and boast of the Saints. * Last year (1869), the product of these was 400 barrels of apples, 117 barrels of pears, 5,000 pounds of grapes. In former years the Saints were large producers of fruits, and shipped considerable quantities of them to the eastern markets. Their strawberries were famous all over New England and New York, and always commanded a high price. Of late years, however, they have curtailed their energies in this respect, and retain nearly all their berries for their own use. Formerly they were extensively en- gaged in canning fruits ; but now this branch of their industry has been almost entirely abandoned. 104 FREE LOVE The farm consists of 664 acres. The greater part of it is under cultivation. The land is naturally- good, and has been improved to its highest capacity by the Saints. The system of agriculture pursued by them yields the largest results, and keeps the land up to its greatest fertility. Scattered over the domain are the tenant-houses of the Community. These are seventy-five in num- ber, and are, for the most part, neat cottages, vrith a small patch of ground attached to each one as a gar- den. They are occupied by families in the employ of the Community. The tenants are not of the Elect, but belong to the outside v^orldl not having yet risen into the mysteries of Free Lover The barns and stables lie near the mansion, and are substantially built. The Saints own about 25 horses, which are quartered in the "Horse Barn." They are fine draught animals, and fully justify the enthusiasm of the young man who drove me over from Oneida, who told me that they were " among the best horses in the county." The cattle-barn, a little farther on, is a large and rather unique affair, designed with many conveniences to serve the de- mands of a large farm. Seventy cattle are generally kept here, a large proportion of which are pure-bred Ayrshires. The product of the dairy is about 33,000, gallons of milk per year. The barberry-hedge is extensively cultivated, and adds much to the appearance of the farm. The Saints are very proud of their hedges, and keep them in excellent condition. AND ITS VOTAtllES. 105 Formerly tlie Community were compelled to send all their produce to Oneida for shipment, and to re- ceive their supplies in the same way. ^N'ow, the Mid- land Eailway, with its station on the farm, will afford them the means of communicating directly with the outer world. Doubtless this will put the Oneida people to some loss, as the Community will not be so dependent upon that village as in years past. 106 :free love CHAPTER V. THE WILLOW PLACE BRANCH. The Manufacturing Department. — How Travellipg-Satchels are Made. — ^Value of the Business. — The Willow Place Community. — A Branch Paradise. — The Rotation System. — The Machine-Shops. — Sewell Newhouse, the Canadian Trapper. — Becomes a Saint and Invents a " Perfect " Trap. — Success of the Invention. — Rapid Sale of the Oneida Trap. — It becomes the Chief Source of the Wealth of the Community. — Statistics of Trap-Making. — Causes of the Financial Prosperity of the Community. — The Silk-Works. — The Oneida Machine-Twist. — Success of the Business. — How Silk-Twist is made. — ^The Work-rooms. — Gentile Employes. — Contrast between the Village Girls and Female Saints. — The Dyeing and Finishing Departments. — The Ribbon Works. — The Foundry. — Value of the Manufacturing Interests of the Com- munity, — Noyes' Theory of Success in Cooperative Experiments. — The Printing Department. The principal manufacturing establisliment of tlie Commnnity is at Willow Place. Here are tlie foun- dry, the macliine-sliops, and tlie larger part of tlie silk-works. At tke " Home " place are located tlie iinisliing department of tke silk-works and tlie travel- ling-satcliel factory. The latter is a very profitable branch of the industry of the Community, and turns out about $35,000 worth of goods annually. These satchels are neat and well made, and often employ a very large number of the Saints in their manufacture. In fair weather the workers frequently ' assemble around the rustic summer-house on the lawn, and, AND ITS VOTARIES. 107 witli Father "Nojes at their head, organize a " work- ing-bee," at which a considerable quantity of work is done. The Willow Place Community is a branch of the parent" ^organization, and is located at this point for the sake of utilizing the water-power here. It having been found inconvenient for the members employed in the machine-shops here to return to the " Home " every evening, and it being still more inconvenient for them to be without their Eves in their branch Paradise, a dwelling was established here, and a num- ber of female Saints quartered in it. The colony now numbers about thirty-five of both sexes. The dwell- ing is convenient, but not equal to the " Home." All the business of this branch is transacted through the " Home " office, and the members are constantly " vis- iting" back and forth — that is, the women are changed as often as the fancies of the Saints require such a step. The machine-shops are large, and provided with every thing necessary for the manufacture of the famous Oneida Community trap. Much of the ma- chinery is the invention of the Saints, and must there- fore be regarded as " perfect " after its kind. One of the first, and by far the most valuable (in a pecuniary sense) of Noyes' converts, was(pewell Newhouse, a Canadian trapper, who, having grown tired of his hardy and venturesome life in the back- woods, concluded that it would be very pleasant to settle down in the midst of a Community founded upon such free principles. Having had considerable 108 FREE . LOVE experience in the art of catcMng vermin of all kinds, from the big grizzly down to the meek little mouse, Brother Newhouse was well aware of the defects in the old-fashioned traps which came from over the Rhine. "What was needed in that article was sim- plicity and lightness of construction, combined with a more deadly spring. Brother Newhouse believed that he could remedy the defects in the German trap, which was then in general use in America, and pro- duce a " perfect " article, which should also be cheaper than that from over the Ehine ; and he set to work to do this. He was successful, and his trap began to attract universal attention. From Madison County the fame of it spread over the whole countiy, and orders for it began to pour in. The facilities of the Community for manufacturing it were at first limited, but these have grown with the popularity of the trap, until now the Willow Place factory is valued at thirty thousand dollars, and the improvements which have been added to it at twenty thousand dollars more. The establishment is under the control of Brother Newhouse. During the last ten years about 2,000,000 traps have been made and sold, completely driving the German article out of the market. fOne hundred and fourteen thousand dollars were received for traps in 1869. In one year, the profits from the sales reached eighty thousand dollars ; and, at present, the traps yield an aggregate annual profit of about fifteen thousand dollars. This is the chief source of the wealth of the Community ; and it is to the skill of Brother Newhouse, and not to the merits of commun- AND ITS VOTARIES. 109 ism, tliat the Saints owe their marked success. There can be little doubt that, if they had not been able to control this patented article — an article >of prime necessity — their experiment at association would have proved a disastrous failure ; for they were on the road to ruin when Newhouse came to their rescue with his trap. The silk-works are, as yet, in their infancy, the manufacture being at present confined to " machine- twist," and a few experiments in black ribbon. In their advertisement, the Saints say of their " machine- twist " : " The reputation which this silk has gained among practical manufacturers, as well as in multi- tudes of private households, renders any particular statement of its merits unnecessary. The Community attempted to make a good, honest thready and it is believed they have succeeded. It is made on new machinery, of the best Tsatlee stock, and is warranted to hold out in weight and length. It is put up in various-sized spools, each spool giving the quantity of silk on its label." This boast of success is not unwarranted. The silk made here is of an excellent quality, and is very popular with those who desire strength and durabil- ity. It is largely used by manufacturers of shoes and clothing. Mr. Allen told me the Community are so much encouraged by the success they have met with, that they contemplate enlarging their works. At present they sell all they can make as soon as it is put in the market, and the demand for it is growing. The Saints have been engaged in selling silk for six- 110 FREE LOVE teen years, and it was tlie success they met with in tMs department that induced them, four years ago, to undertake the manufactui'e of the article. The silk-works are located in the upper portion of the machine-shops, and employ seventy-five females, nearly all of them girls. These are not Free-Lovers, but are residents of Oneida, and are brought horn th^ir homes to the factory every morning, and sent back every evening, by the wagons of the Commu- nity. They are a neat, bright-looking set, and decidedly more attractive in person than the Saints for whom they work. They receive from $4.50 to $7 per week, and declare they are very well pleased with their positions. Indeed, all with whom I conversed assured me that the Saints are both liberal and punctual in the matter of wages. The girls are under the super- intendence of Miss Emma Jones, a member of the Community. The raw silk is imported by the Community, and brought in the original package to these works. Here it is cleaned and wound. Nine cleaners and ten winders are in use, and about fifteen thousand yards of silk are usually on the winders. The machinery is moved by water-power, and is of an excellent de- scription. About sixty thousand dollars is invested' in the silk manufacture, and last year the sales reached the sum of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars. The silk, after being cleaned and wound, is sent over to the finishing department at the " Home." Here it is taken to the " dye-rooms," and given the AND ITS VOTARIES. Ill color designed for it. This process is conducted under tlie supervision of Dr. Noyes, wlio is assisted by a number of the male and female members of tLe Com- munity. The dyes are imparted by the analine pro- cess, the colors being derived from coal-tar. The patent is English. Dr. ISToyes told me that these colors were the best he had ever seen, but that there w^ere frequent cases of adulteration, and that there was no means of detecting the foreign material except by the failure of the dyeing process. The gum is boiled off the silk, and it is then dyed in the colors intended for it. It is the work of a few hours only to dye the fancy silks, but the black requires several days. Forty-eight different colors of fancy silks are made, and three shades of black. From the dye-room the silk is taken to the spool- ing-room, where it is submitted to the final process of winding on spools for the market. This, with the dye-room, is located in the brick building in the rear of the Community mansion. Here the finished silk is first transferred by a winding-machine to " bobbins," and then, by a dozen Jiands, mostly of young women, seated at spooling-machines, is deftly wound on spools, ready for the market. One or two of the women em- ployed in this department are old and ugly, and the hideous Bloomer dress worn by them gives them an infinitely ludicrous appearance. The spools are now ready for the market, and are packed in an adjoining room, where orders of a certain size are shipped. Kelley's patent case, an ingenious invention of one of the Saints, for displaying the entire contents at once, I 112 FREE LOVE is thrown in, I believe. The effect of the various colors and shades of color, as displayed in this case, is very brilliant, and is richly worth examination by the visitor. The ribbon department is small, as yet, only two or three looms being in operation. Some experiments have been made in the manufacture of dress-goods in black silk, but, thus far, no very decided success has been achieved. The foundry is located on the creek that runs through the farm, and about a quarter of a mile above Willow Place. It is situated on a fine water- power, and is kept busy making castings for the machine-shops, and in filling orders for the merchants and farmers of the vicinity. The manufactories belonging to the Community are valued at over $200,000, and are increasing in value every year. This manufacturing interest, which origi- nated with Newhouse's traps, has been the mainstay of the Community. Mr. Noyes regards it as the only true source of wealth for any organization of this kind. In a recent work, while discussing the causes of the failure of the many communistic experiments in this country, nearly all of which invested their wealth in land, he says : " We should have advised the phalanxes to limit their land investments to a minimum, and put their strength, as soon as possible, into some form of manufacture. Almost any kind of a factory would be better than a farm for a Com- munity nursery." The Community have been, for several years, en- AND ITS VOTARIES. 113 gaged in tlie publication of a weekly newspaper called The Circular^ wMcli will be noticed more at length farther on. The publication-office is located at the Oneida Community. The printing-office is located in the building which contains the kitchen and the finishing-rooms of the silk-works. The type-setting is done by females, and the printing is done by means of a small hand-press. The paper being small in size, and its circulation limited, the office is very modest in its appointments, and but a moderate amount of capi- tal is invested in it. 114 FREE LOVE CHAPTER VI. THE WALLUSrGFORD BRAK'CH. The Village of Wallingford. — ^The Community Farm. — The Buildings. — A Change Contemplated. — Internal Arrangements. — The Community Printing-OfiSce. — Statistics of the Business. — Character of the Work. — Female Compositors. — Reasons for Success. — The Silk-Works. — The Employes. — Superiority of the Village Girls. — Quinnipiac River. — A Bathing Scene. — Males and Females enjoy the Sport together. — A Shameless Group. — A Sudden Inter- ruption. — ^The Community Farm. — A Lovely View. — Excellent System of Agriculture. — The Vineyard. — Contrast between the Place and its Occu- pants. — Mr. Jocelyn. — System of Constant Visiting kept up between the Oneida and Wallingford Communities. — Reasons for it. The little town of Wallingford, in 'New Haven County, Connecticnt, is one of tlie brightest, prettiest villages in the " land of steady habits." It is twelve miles to the northeast of the city of New Haven, and on the line of the railway from that city to Hartford. About half a mile west of the station, on the slopes of Mount Tom, the Oneida Saints have estab- lished a branch paradise, known as the Wallingford Community. The place may be reached from the railway by a carriage-road — vehicles for hire being always at hand in the village — or by a shorter path across the fields. I chose the latter, and arrived at the Community buildings in about fifteen minutes. The Wallingford Community was established in AND ITS VOTARIES. 115 its present location in 1851. It consists of about 48 members, and owns about 250 acres of land. The business of the establishment combines pnnting in several of its higher branches, spinning the raw silk into thread preparatory to dyeing it, and the cultiva- tion of the land. The buildings are of wood, and are not as hand- some or commodious as those of the parent establish- ment at Oneida. The Saints contemplate removing, them and supplying their place with a large mansion, similar to that at Oneida. As I came up the slope of the hill, I passed first the stable and barn, which, though small, were well kept, and supplied with most of the conveniences needed in such an establishment. A public road passes between and separates the stables from the Community buildings, which stand on a gentle slope, and are enclosed with a neat picket fence. At the first glance, there is nothing to distin- guish these buildings from an ordinary farm-house. Every thing has a more private appearance than at Oneida. The main edifice is simply a neat cottage, of medium size, with a long extension in the rear. To the right of this is the printing-office — a two-story frame house, very much like a country school-house in its external appearance. The yard is prettily laid out. The living-apartments and meeting-room, or family hall, are in the main building. The kitchen and din- ing-room are in the extension. The household arrange- ments are conducted on a plan similar to that pursued at Oneida, and which I have already laid before the 116 FREE LOVE reader. The Wallingford establislimeiit, being mucli younger, and, financially, less prosperous than the parent Community, has not as many evidences of wealth about it, or even as many substantial comforts. Every thing is simpler and plainer. The library is located in the printing-office building, and is contained in a small and plain apartment. It comprises but a few hundred volumes, if so many ; these being simi- lar in character to those I have spoken of in connec- tion with Brother Pitt's collection. The printing-office is supplied with almost every thing necessary to the '^ printer's art." It began as a job-office on a small scale, and has grown into an establishment of considerable dimensions. Formerly j)nly job-work was done; but now the Saints are undertaking book-work in all its departments. They have, as yet, no stereotype foundry, but I was told that, if their business should justify it, they will establish one in a year or two. Stitching and bind- ing pamphlets is done on the place ; but binding in cloth or leather is given by them to some of the Gen- tile establishments in New York. The office consists of a large, well-lighted and ventilated composing-room on the first floor, and a press-room in an adjoining apartment. Besides proof and hand presses, there are three cylinder presses in the establishment, the motive- power of which is furnished by a caloric engine. Should this branch of their business grow to an ex- tent sufficient to justify the outlay, the Saints contem- plate making use of a fine water-power close by. The composition is done by females, the most of whom AND ITS VOTARIES. 117 are young women, and the presses are fed by girls. Tlie press-room is presided over by an old worker in tliis department, wlio was famous for bis skill in this wicked world long before be decided to become a Saint. The entire establisbment is under tbe manage- ment of Mr. Jocelyn, who impressed me as more of an amateur tban a practical printer. Every tbing is very neat and clean, and I waS/ agreeably impressed witb tbe system and order wbicb seemed to reign in every particular. Tbe Saints do good work. Tbeir job-printing will compare favorably witb any tbe writer has ever seen ; and tbeir principal achievement thus far — tbe " History of American Socialisms, by J. H. Noyes," wbicb was set up and printed here — would do credit to any office in tbe country. Tbeir prices are very much cheaper than those of the Eastern cities, and this draws to them a constant supply of orders. As they pay tbeir compositors only tbeir board and clothing, wbicb are of the simplest and cheapest de- scription, they are, of course, able to do work, and even to make large profits, at a low scale of prices. They have not the difficulties to contend witb that so frequently embarrass Gentile offices. Tbeir work- women belong to no " Union," and never strike for higher wages ; thus saving them the necessity for sudden and often injurious changes in their scale of prices. As they do not, like the mass of female com- positors, regard their business as only a means of support until they can marry, they have no induce- ment to become careless in tbeir work. They know 118 FREE LOVE that this must be the business of a lifetime, and there- fore strive for proficiency. The silk- works are located v^ithin a stone's throw of the railway, about ^ve minutes' walk from the station, and are separated from the Community farm by the Quinnipiac river, the water of which furnishes the motive-power for the machinery. Here the raw silk is spun into threads, and then sent to Oneida to be dyed and finished. The works are presided over by a female Saint, short, dumpy, with a coarse but good-natured face, and an unmistakable New Eng- land twang. The women and girls employed in the factory are, as at Oneida, residents of the village. They are fair specimens of the working-girl class of Connecticut, and, if I may judge from outward ap- pearances, vastly superior, in personal attractions, to the female Saints on the hill above them. Their hands were hard and rough, their faces frequently plain, and their dress simple ; but there was a native modesty, a sweet womanliness about them, which I have yet to see in any of the perfect creatures in short skirts and breeches. A carpenter- shop, for the repairing of the ma- chinery, is located in one part of the basement of the factory, and the rest of this floor is occupied by the laundry. This department is somewhat smaller than the Oneida laundry, but is arranged and managed on the same plan. It is presided over by a female Saint of mature years, and the work is done by hired help. The factory buildings are about a quarter of a mile distant from the residence, and are reached by means AND ITS VOTARIES. 119 of a foot-patli tlirougli tLe farm, and a rustic bridge over the Quinnipiac river. It is but a ten-minutes' v^^alk from the residence to the Silk- Works, and the Saints can traverse the entire distance on their own land, and without being required to subject them- selves to the gaze of the outside world. The Quinnipiac flows just at the base of the hill on which the dwelling is located, and separates the farm from the Gentile lands. It is here a mere creek, and but a few feet deep ; but the water is as clear as crystal, and the bed of the stream is hard and grav- elly. A rich undergrowth borders each bank, and numerous sw^amp- willows, bending far over the stream, afford a delightful shade. Just above the little bridge is a fine bathing-place, of which the Saints are said to make a good use. This brings to my mind an incident related to me by the young man who drove my carriage over to the Community from the village of Oneida. " About two years ago," said he, " a party of six of us young fel- lows started out from the village, one Sunday after- noon, to gather grapes, which grow in great quantities not far from here. On the way we had to pass the creek which flows through the Community farm, and as the evening was warm, we decided to stop and bathe before going farther. It was near sunset, and a first-rate time for going in the water, and we were soon undressed, and enjoying the sport. Just above us was a deeper portion of the creek, which was par- tially cut off from our view by some trees which grew at the water's edge. We moved gradually up towards 120 * FREE LOVE tliis spot, and as we came in full view of it, saw a sight that astonished us. About half a dozen Free Lovers, men and women, were bathing in the creek, and they were all as naked as when they came into the world. As we had been pretty quiet, they had not noticed us, and we now came on them entirely un- seen. I at once called out to them, and asked if we might join them, and the rest of us burst into a yell of laughter. They saw us now for the first time, and, without making us any reply, dashed out of the water and took to the bushes, where we did, not think it prudent to follow them." I questioned the young man closely to ascei-tain if he spoke the truth, but he stoutly held to his story, and I was forced to believe him. There was nothing improbable in the statement. The Saints, having set aside all decency in their way of living, would see no harm in such a scene as that the young man described. The Community farm comprises about two hun- dred and fifty acres of land lying on the slopes of Mount Tom. It is mostly open, but there is wood enough for the purposes of the place. The soil is not as good as that of the Oneida farm, though the farm itself is more attractive to the eye, but it is good land for this section of the country, and the careful cultiva- tion to which it is subjected has made it fully equal to any thing around it. One cannot help being struck with the neatness of the farm. There is no trash lying around; the eye is pained by no unsightly heaps ; but the whole domain is as clean and free from litter as the yard surrounding the Home. AND ITS VOTARIES. . 121 The Saints are giving considerable attention to tlie culture of tlie grape here. A fine vineyard stands on the slope of the hill just below the residence, and a little to the left of it. It is admirably located, and seemed to me to be kept with considerable skill. The orchards are comparatively young, but are excellent, doubtless affording the Saints a fine opportunity for gratifying their fondness for fruit. Sheep-raising is carried on to a limited extent, the grassy hillside forming the best of grazing-grounds. Altogether, it is as attractive a farm as New Eng- land can boast. The location is very much prettier than that of the Oneida Community. When I first saw the place, the Spring was just clothing the ground with verdure ; and as I stood at the gate of the " Home " yard, I beheld a lovely sight indeed. The hillside and the valley below were bright- with the young grass and the growing crops, and on every side of me sparkled millions of buttercups and wild vio- lets. The apple-trees were white with their blossoms, and the grounds of the residence were full of flowers of every hue. The air was heavy with the rich breath of the Spring, and the birds were singing in every tree. Below me shone the bright thread of the river, and beyond it was the pretty village of Wallingford, lying back among its stately elms. Every inanimate thing around me spoke of purity and beauty ; but the men and women moving about so briskly, and seemingly unconscious of my presence, with all their efforts to seem holy and spiritual, shocked and pained me by the gross, sensual expres- 122 FREE LOVE sion of their countenances. Nature spoke to me of something better than fallen humanity ; the very ap- pearance of these people suggested something worse. The Comnmnity is, in effect, presided over at pres- ent by Mr. Jocelyn— a tall, ungainly-looking man, with a coarse, sensual face ; a face, however, which, it seemed to me, a life of purity might have ennobled. He did not strike me as a man of much intellectual force ; but the members of the Community seemed to look up to him with considerable respect. ^Mr. JSToyes pays frequent visits to this establishment, as do the other leading members of the Oneida Community. This constant intercourse between the members of the various branches is absolutely essential to the success of Noyes' scheme, which would be to some extent frustrated were they total or even partial strangers to each other. Practically, the Communities at Oneida and Wallingford are one, I was told ; but I could not help noticing that the Wallingford people are very anxious to disconnect their establishment from the parent organization, in telling what has been accom- plished by them. In the remainder of this book the two Communities will be spoken of as one institu- tion, all comments and statements applying with equal force to both. AND ITS VOTARIES. V23 CHAPTER VII. FINANCIAL HISTOBY. Pecuniary Success of the Saints. — Mr. Noyes' Account of the Financial Opera- tions of the Oneida Community. — Products of the various Branches of In- dustry. — Amount of Labor performed by the Members — Profits of the Establishment. — Early Losses Repaired. — Statement of Earnings. — Estimate of the Amount necessary to Support and Clothe each Saint. — Amoupt and Character of Food Consumed. — Interesting Statistics. As a pecuniary investment, the Oneida Communi- ty is a decided success. The Saints have not only recovered from their early losses, but have steadily increased their wealth from year to year. Their financial history is thus summed up by Mr. Noyes, in his " History of American Socialisms." " The Oneida Community has two hundred and 4; wo members, and two affiliated societies — one of forty members, at Wallingford, Connecticut, and one of thirty-five members, at Willow Place, on a detached part of the Oneida domain. This domain consists of six hundred and sixty-four acres of choice land, and three excellent water-powers. The manufacturing in- terest here created is valued at over $200,000. The Wallingford domain consists of two hundred and J 24 FREE LOVE twenty-eight acres, with a water-power, a printing- office, and a silk-factory. The three Community fami- lies (in all two hundred and seventy-seven persons) are financially and socially a unit. . . . " The extent and variety of industrial operations at the Oneida Community may be seen in part by the following statistics from the report of last year (1868): No. of steel traps manufactured during the year 278,000 " packages of preserved fruits 104,458 Amount of raw silk manufactured 4,664 lbs. Iron cast at the foundry •. 227,000 " Lumber manufactured at saw-mill 305,000 feet. ' Product of milk from the dairy 31,143 gallons. " hay on the domain 300 tons. " potatoes 800 bushels. " strawberries 740 " " apples... 1,450 " " grapes 9,631 lbs. Stock on the farm, 93 cattle and 25 horses. Amount of teaming done, valued at $6,260. " In addition to these, many branches of industry necessary for the convenience of the family are pur- sued, such as shoemaking, tailoring, dentistry, &c. The cash business of the Community during the year, as represented by its receipts and disbursements, was about $575,000. Amount paid for hired labor, $34,000. Family expenses (exclusive of domestic labor by the members, teaching, and work in the printing-office), $41,533.43. " The amount of labor performed by the Commu- nity members during the year was found to be ap- proximately as follows : AND ITS VOTARIES. 125 Anit. of labor per day. 1 hours. . 6 " 40 min. 3 " 40 (( 3 « 40 (( 1 " 20 C( 1 " 20 (( Number. Able-bodied men 80 " women 84 Invalid and aged men 6 Boys 4 Invalid and aged women 9 Girla 2 "This is exclusive of care of children, scliool-teacli- ing, printing and editing The Circular^ and mncli head-work in all departments. " Taking 304 days for the working year, we have, as a product of the above figures, a total of 35,568 days' work, at ten hours each. Supposing this labor to be paid at the rate of $1.50 per day, the aggregate sum for the year would be $53,352. By comparing this with the amount of family expenses — $41,533.43 — we find, at the given rate of wages, a surplus of profit amounting to $11,818.57, or 33 cents profit for each person per day. This represents the saving which ordinary unskilled labor would make by means of the mere economy of association. . . . Labor in the Community, being principally of the higher class, is proportionately rewarded, and, in fact, earns much more than $1.50 per day. " The entire financial history of the Community is, in brief, the following : it commenced business at its present location in 1848, but did not adopt the prac- tice of taking annual inventories till 1857. Of the period between these dates we can give but a general account. The Community, in the course of that pe- riod, had five or six branches, with common interests, scattered in several States. The Property Kegister, 126 FREE LOVE kept from tlie beginning, shows tliat tlie amount of j)roperty brought in by the members of all the Com- munities, up to January 1, 1857, was $107,706.45. But the amount held at Oneida at that date, as stated in the first regular inventory, was only $41,740 ; and the branch Communities at Putney, Wallingford, and elsewhere, at the same time had only $25,532.22. So that the total assets of the associate Communities were $67,272.22, or $40,434.23 less than the amount brought in by the members. In other words, between the years 1848 and 1857, the associated Communities sunk (in round numbers) $40,000. Various causes may be assigned for this, such as inexperience, lack of established business, persecution and extortions, the burning of the Community store, the sinking of tlie sloop Rebecca Ford in the Hudson river, the mainte- nance of an expensive printing family at Brooklyn, the publication of a free paper, &c, " In the course of several years previous to 1857, the Community worked out of the policy of living in scattered detachments, and concentrated its forces at Oneida and Wallingford. From the 1st of January, 1857, when its capital was $41,740, to the present time, the progress of its money-matters is recorded in the following statistics, drawn from its annual inven- tories : In 1857, net earnings \ $5,470.11 1858, " 1,763.60 1859, " 10,278.38 1860, " 15,611.03 1861, " 5,877.89 1862, " 9,859.78 AND ITS VOTARIES. 127 In 1863, net earnings k. . . $44,755.30 1864, " 61,382.62 1865, " 12,382.81 1866, " 13,198.74 "Total net earnings in ten years, $180,580.26; being a yearly average income of $18,058.02, above all expenses. The succeeding inventories show the folio wins; results : Ket earnings in 1867 $21,416.02 " 1868 55,100.83 " 1869 30,920.56 Being an average, for the last three years, of $35,812.46 per annum." This is as authoritative and as fair a showing of the finances of the Community as can be made. Mr. Noyes estimates the average cost — that is, the personal expenses — of each member of the Commu- nity as follows ; Per Individual. Per "Week. Per Year. Food $1.66 $86.44 Clothing 68 35.18 Boots and shoes 13 6.70 Washing. 14 7.22 Other items 92 47.79 $3.53 $183.33 This estimate is merely for the raw material, and does not include the cost of the labor performed in washing, cooking, and making clothing and shoes ; and, even at this, the estimate does not fairly cover the necessities of an individual of refinement and cul- tivation. 128 FREE LOVE Tlie following is a list of tlie table expenses of tlie Community for a part of a year, and will give the reader a fair idea of tlie tastes of the Saints in this respect : Flour and meal $2,245.2'? Sugar and syrup 3,312.04 Butter 3,346.07 Suet , 71.57 Vegetables 2,530.24 Milk 2,532.32 Cheese 296.25 Meat and poultry 691.75 Eggs 443.84 Fish (including shell-fish) 391.57 Fruits 1,730.39 " preserved 2,456.84 AND ITS VOTARIES. 129 CHAPTEE VIII. BUSINESS ORGANIZATION. ^ A Miniature "World Upside Down. — The Pentecostal Method. — No Personal Pos- sessions allowed here. — The Property Register and its Uses. — True Char- acter of the Establishment. — Not a Stock Company. — No Dividends. — ^What is done with the Profits. — Business Organization. — The Business Board and its Duties. — "Who are Members of it. — How it Controls the Community. — Real Character of the Establishment. — Meetings of the Board. — Power without Responsibility. — An Ingenious Device. — Arrangement of Labor. — The Organizing Committee. — The Standing Committee and its Duties. — \roha H. Noyes the real Head of the Community. — His Tact and Skill in Management. — Labor not Compulsory, but Idleness Punished with Expul- sion. — The Variety System. — " Jack of. All Trades and Master of None." — Views of The Circular upon the System. — Experience of Constance Noyes. — Satisfaction of the Saints with their System. — A Formal Showing of the Benefits of Communism. — ^What its Disciples Claim for it. The Oneida Community (and in this general term is included the Wallingford and Willow Place branch- es) constitute a world of their own. At the outset they cast behind them every form and observance of societj- in their organization and domestic concerns, and' arranged t^eir affairs according to what is termed by them the r Pentecostal model," which is set forth in the passage of Scripture which declares that, on the day of Pentecost, " the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul ; neither 9 130 FREE LOVE said any of them that aught gf the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common." The original members threw all their pos- sessions into a common fund, and each new convert is required to contribute all his worldly goods to the same fund. No one has an exclusive right to any thing. A man cannot be said to own his hat, coat, or boots in this establishment. These articles are the common property of the Saints, and the wearer is merely allowed the use of them. The contributions of each member to the common fund are entered in a register kept for that purpose. Should the member decide to abandon the Community, his property, or an amoimt in money equivalent to it, is returned to him ; but no allowance is made for the increase of his pos- sessions in the liands of the Community, the Saints taking the ground that his share of the profits of the concern had been consumed in his support. There is a free interchange of men and means between the dif- ferent Communities, and no accounts (except for 2)ur- poses of information) are kept between the several Communities, or the members of the same Commu- nity. The Community is not a joint stock company. There is no division of profits. It is held to be the duty of every member to make his individual ex- penses as light as possible ; and those having tlje charge of the general expenditures of the establish- ment are enjoined to practise the most rigid economy. Every effort is made to increase the annual profits of the concern, but the amount so accruing is not paid AND ITS VOTARIES. 131 out in dividends to tlie members. It is tlie possession of the Community as a whole, and is eitlier held as a reserve fund, or is used for increasing the manufactur- ing capacity of the Community, for the purchase of more land, for the erection of new buildings, or for the improvement of those already in use. The business organization of the Community is simple. The general supervision of affairs is confided to a Business Board, who are equivalent to a Board of Directors. This Board consists of the heads of the several industrial departments, and such others as choose to attend its sessions. It is presided over by a chairman, and its proceedings are carefully recorded in a journal by a secretary. " All the members of the Community," says the " Hand-Book,'' " are free to par- ticipate in the deliberations of this Board, and it is a limited body only because all who are not especially interested in managing generally choose to stay away." The sentiment of the Community is against any inter- ference by members in the action of this Board, which by custom has come to be absolute in the management of the business affairs of the Community. It is com- posed of the best business men in the place, and is really the " brains " of the establishment. It controls every thing, its recommendations having the force of decrees ; so that the management of the Community's business is conducted exactly like that of any corpo- rate institution. The Board controls every thing. The rest of the Saints execute the several tasks as- signed them like so many paid laborers. They have no care, no responsibility : all that falls upon the 132 FREE LOVE Board. Thus it will be seen tliat the Community is managed upon the soundest and most approved busi- ness principles, and that it owes its success to them, and not to any intrinsic merit of Communism. The Board meets once a week, and its proceedings are read by the secretary to the entire family in the social hall, on the evening following the meeting, and opportunity is then given for discussion of any meas- ure resolved upon by the Board. In this way, says the " Hand-Book," " business matters are frequently referred for discussion and decision by the Board to the general meeting ; so that constant communication is kept up betvveen the Board and the mass of the Community. There are no secret sessions. Every thing is free, open, democratic." These discussions are mere forms, but are very satisfactory to the Board. The decisions of that body are, as a rule, always sanc- tioned by the family, and the Board is thus enabled to retain the absolute control of the establishment, and, at the same time, to shift the responsibility of their acts on to the shoulders of the family. Should any Saint prove refractory, and insist upon opposing the action of the Board, he is denounced as " not in sympathy with the family," and is criticised into sub- mission. The members of the Board are shrewd enough to adopt any suggestion that commends itself to their judgment, so that the general discussion may, in this way, be said to accomplish some good, after all. In the early Spring of each year,, a special session of the Business Board is called, for maturing plans for the business operations of the ensuing year, and for AND ITS VOTARIES. 133 organizing tlie forces of tlie season. Previous to tlie meeting, a conspicuous bulletin invites every one to hand in a written slip, stating the department of busi- ness he or she prefers to engage in. These slips are submitted by the Board to an Organizing Committee, who select foremen for the different departments of business, and apportion the help, keeping in view as much as possible the expressed choice of individuals. Their plan is submitted to the Board for approval or amendment, and also to the family in general assem- bly. Still further, a Standing Committee is appoint- ed at the annual meeting, consisting of two or three persons of approved judgment, whose duty it is to have a general oversight of all the businesses, and trans- fer hands from one department to another, as the fluc- tuations of business or the improvement of individu- als may require. The real head of the Community is John Hum- phrey Noyes. His keen intellect and strong will make themselves visible in every department. Had he devoted himself to business, instead of free love, he would have risen to eminence as a merchant ; and, as it is, he has carried the qualities necessary to such an achievement with him into his Community. Of course, he does not make his power visible in all cases. LHe has mastered the art of so controlling his disciples, that they think they are carrying out their own ideas, when they are really executing his designs. So great is his influence over his followers, that they regard him as an inspired being, and really prefer to be guided by him than to follow their own desires. 134 FREE LOVE His will is supreme, and lie can always reckon with certainty upon a sufficient number of devoted ad- herents to enable him to ^' criticise " his opponents into submission. The members of the Community assured me that labor was not compulsory, no one being compelled by any law in this Eden. At the same time, they added that the Community is no place for an idle person. The idler is soon made to feel that he is out of sym- pathy with the other Saints, and can only regain his happy state by cultivating habits of industry. The aim is to make labor attractive, and a means of im- provement ; and I was assured that this is found com- patible with good and industrious habits. The mem- bers occasionally exchange employments, and many of them are proficient in several trades. This diversity of skill may be advantageous in some instances, but I may be permitted to doubt its general excellence. In spite of the assertions of the Saints to the contrary, it would seem to me to make them " Jacks of all trades and masters of none." Mr. Noyes has been very ener- getic in putting his faith in this diversity of talent into practice. He has himself been a farmer, garden- er, brick-mason, job printer, bag-maker, tinker, editor, steward, blacksmith, trapper, and inventor. His ex- ample is followed by his associates, and thus far, they maintain, with beneficial results. The domestic arrangements are also conducted upon the rotation principle ; and upon this point The Ciroular discourses as follows : " ' How do you manage your housework ? ' the AND ITS VOTARIES. 135 visitor asks. * Every thing seems to be done ; but how is it done ? You, madam, receive company ; but who does the kitchen- work ? There are no servants in the house, you say ; but who does the drudgery ? Do you all work so many hours ? How do you con- trive to keep any equality ? ' * Well, we are not very anxious to keep equality ; we pity any one that does not love to be useful ; but so far as equality is desira- ble, it is secured by rotation. Variety, which is a greater object with us than equality, is secured by the same principle. We have officers that we call mothers of the work — usually two, chosen by unanimous vote — trustworthy women, to whom is committed the whole dispensation of in-door work. They arrange it once a week. Not that they revise the whole pro- gramme so often, but they consult every Sunday, and make more or less individual changes. " There are five principal departments — the chil- dren's house, the kitchen, the printing-office, the spool- ing-room, and chores (the last including dining-room work, dish-washing, care of rooms, cfec.) — in which to make changes. Each of these departments has a per- manent head---that is, one who has general charge or supervision for a year, or a term of years ; but the subordinates are constantly changing. " Constance, for instance, healthy and ambitious, works in the printing-office a month, or three months, or six months even, if she does not get tired. Her hours here are from seven to eleven in the forenoon, five days in a week. Besides, she waits on the table at supper, or does some other light chore. Then, 136 FREE LOVE when she wants a change, or it is convenient to put some one in her place, she goes to the children's house, perhaps. This is her pet work. There she must be on hand to help dress the children by six o'clock in the morning, and stay to-day till one o'clock. To- morrow she goes at one and stays till seven, or till the little ones are all in bed. She is there the forenoon of one day and the afternoon of the next. Her term is indefinite ; but when, for any reason, a change is desirable, you may find her, perchance, in the kitchen. There she has to work a half day ; is let off perhaps an hour, to go to a class ; but has to take her turn with the corps in getting up early to cook breakfast, and in staying late fpr stragglers to supper. She will serve there three or four weeks, and then be glad of a change. The silk-room is more attractive, and, for a while, she will enjoy spooling the beautiful hues, as much as a lady enjoys her embroidery. Her time there is three or four hours a day (not consecutive), and she may have an additional chore about the house. In the chores, she would perhaps work in the dining- room after breakfast, wash pitchers and tumblers at noon, and silver at night, occupying three hours in all. ** There is no cast-iron about this system of rota- tion. The mothers use all judgment in assigning vvork, having reference always to age, strength, and nclination. There are numerous exemptions. Some bave no allotted work, but are excellent volunteers, md help do the thousand unmentionable little offices which go to make a cheerful home. " The departments referred to do not include all llPir: i^//^Ar/y///y/A/y/ m AND ITS VOTARIES. 137 the in-door industry wliicli ' is subject to rotation. There is the sewing-machine to be kept running ; and here we have frequent changes, as the work is monoto- nous and wearing. The office of librarian is more permanent, and the book-keeping retains one set two and three years. The florists make a summer's work of it. Mrs. S. has had the charge of the bedding (in the house, not in the garden) for two or three years ; Miss T. has made the pickles, &c. "Frequent changes keep the appetite fresh, and the enthusiasm of new hands always enlivens a group. " Persons develop faculties and gifts in the career of various departments, and everywhere there is a levelling up to the standard of the best, fin a com- pany of a hundred there will be housewifery excel- lence of every kind, and the highest excellence will inevitably become the standard, in the cooking, in cleanliness, in taste, in the whole domestic order." The Saints, having won material success, are de- lighted with their system, and declare emphatically that its merits ought to be self-evident to all observ- ers. The Circular thus indicates some of its benefits, which are cheerfully admitted in the case of this par- ticular organization : " The advantages of the large family which strike the observer at the very outset, are : . " 1. That its dwelling is well heated. " 2. That it has good cooking. " 3. That it has abundance of fruit. " 4. That it is exceedingly cleanly. 138 FREE LOVE " 5. That it is exempt from ^ wasliing-day.' " Take these things in their order. In common houses heated by stoves, there will be perhaps two or three rooms over-warm, while the chambers and rest of the house are places of shivering cold. "JN'ow, in the Community dwelling, there is an area of half an acre (including all floors) from which winter is excluded. Go where you will, from cellar to attic is the same even summer temperature; and this without liaving tlie care and dust of a single stove. All is done by a steam-heating apparatus attended by a single man. " One of the best things in life is wholesome cook- ing. Sour bread, heavy biscuts, stale butter, and greasy meat, are a grief to the much-enduring stomach of man. Whether such things exist or not in isolated households, we cannot positively say ; our suspicion is that they sometimes invade the small dining-room. But when you come to cook for two hundred, it is a different thing. You have the best skill in the whole body for your standard, and man-power enough to carry it strongly through. The consequence is, that your bread is superb, your soup and omelet are unex- ceptionable ; your dinner is on the table at the min- ute, and is never a botch. " Abundance of fruit, which to the single house- hold is costly and difficult of attainment, in the large family is almost a matter of course. Besides the stores of preserved fruits of every description, which are always at the command of the kitchen department, open baskets of red-cheeked apples stand here and AND ITS VOTAEIES. 139 there in tlie passages' all winter long, for tlie free use of those who will take them. " As to cleanliness, the large family cannot fail to have this virtue. All dirt-making processes are re- stricted and reduced to a minimum. The taste of the neatest prevails, and united strength makes short work with rubbish. " In the large family, the periodical washing, that goblin of the ordinary household, is transformed into a jolly, fog-crowned demon, who presides over a suit of steam washing-machines, WTingers, and dryers, all in a laundry by himself. All that is known of wash- ing-day, is the return of smooth white garments to you each week. The how and why are concealed, un- less you seek them out in the premises devoted to this work. " These items are, of course, secondary in impor- tance to many others ; but still, a gain, even in such e very-day matters as warmth, food, cleanliness, and laundry service, tells on the sum-total of mortal hap piness." 140 FREE LOVE CHAPTER IX. THE UNWEITTEK CODE. A Despotic and Cruel System, — The Principle of Sympathy and its itses. — Criticism. — A Refinement of Mental Torture. — How the System Operates. — Petty Jealousies.--^ow Criticism is Pirected against Obstinate Saints. — ^An Aid to Free Love, — A Case in Point. — The Confession of Sydney Jocelyn. — His Tact. — How to Take Criticism. — A Specimen of Free-Love Poetry. — A Test of Moral Courage. — A Cruel and Vindictive Torment. — It is Dreaded by the Saints. — The real Object of Criticism.— A Novel Use for it. — It Cures old Mr. Cragin of a Bad Cold, — ^A Queer Statement by an old Free Lover. The means relied upon for the government of tLis singular assemblage of perfect beings is simple at the first glance, but is really the most artful and despotic system of rule ever devised by man. Professing to be founded in love, it contains an element of cruelty which ought to be foreign to a colony of Saints. ^The controlling principle is called sympathy, and the office which it holds in the family is very much like that which the world assigns to public opinion./^ A mem- ber may do any thing he likes, for all are free ; but he is trained to do every thing in sympathy with the general wish. He must act in accordance with this wish in the minutest particular, from the choice of a AND ITS VOTARIES. , 141 female associate to the selection of a new hat. If the general opinion of th e Co mmunity is against him, he is clearly wrong, for[ the ^famil^^s as sumed to be always wiser than tJer^mt, an a|[ne must comT^into sympathy with the Community by submitting to its will. He has no choice. He must do this, or leave the place.;:;^ ^^ As a means of enforcing this sympathy, the Saints have adopted a system of mutual criticism. This ex- quisite torture is practised at the daily evening meet- ings of the family. A person not in sympathy with the Community is warned of his delinquency, and, if his submission is not instant, he is called upon to sub- mit to the criticism of his fellows at the evening meet- ings. Sometimes a pei:son is criticised by the entire family; at other times by a committee of six, eight, twelve, or .more. The torture to which these egotists are thus subjected can hardly be described in words. The Saints are keen judges of character, and study each other with a skill and fidelity which render them proficients in this art. They are expected to be per- fectly candid in thus dealing with their fellows, and they do speak out with astonishing frankness. The subject of their remarks is often thunderstruck to find even his secret thoughts penetrated and laid bare by his tormentors. His vanity, his pride, his self love, even his tenderest feelings, are probed to the quick, and he is made indeed to see himself as others see him. (" This system," says Noyes, " takes the place of backbiting in ordinary society." / But what danger of backbiting would there be in ordinary society, if men 142 . FREE LOVE were permitted to speak thus plainly concerning eacli other ? The Saints are by no means free from petty jeal- ousies, heartburnings, and malice, and this system of criticism affords them ample opportunities for revenge. Sister A. refuses to accept the advances of Brother B., and, upon the first occasion of her being subjected to criticism, you may be sure Brother B. will not be sparing in his analysis of her character. Or, vice- versa, Sister C, old and ugly, finding Brother D., young and handsome, averse to her society, pours out the vials of her wrath upon his head at his next criti- cism. The Saints dread the ordeal, and shrink from it to such a degree, that they will submit to almost any thing rather than endure it. The subject must receive his criticism in silence. Should he submit, he may announce his willingness to do so at the next meeting ; but the announcement must be made in writing. An instance of this kind was the case of Sydney Jocelyn, who had manifested too much worldliness to suit the more rigid Saints. Brother Pitt opened the attack, giving a keen analysis of the young man's character, and pointing out, with seeming kindness and very decided frankness, all the evil things he had ever seen in Sydney — his laziness, his sensuality, his love of dress and show, his sauci- ness of speech, his lack of reverence. Noyes,' Hamil- ton, and Bolls followed, and were equally severe upon the poor fellow. They were succeeded by Sister Joce- lyn, Sydney's own mother, who did not spare her son. Then, nearly all the old women opened fire. Sydney, AND ITS VOTARIES. 143 it seems, had no great fondness for tlie caresses of the ancient ladies, and this drew down upon him a storm of denunciation. He submitted in silence, and went to his chamber to sleep on the matter. Like a sensi- ble fellow, he " accepted the situation," and, the next evening, sent in the following letter of submission, which was read to the assembled family : "To THE Community: " I take this occasion to express my thanks for the criticism and advice I received last evening, and for the sincerity that was manifested. " I wish to thank Mr. Noyes for his sincerity, espe- cially in regard to times long past. I well remember when I felt very near him, and used to converse freely with him ; and I consider those my happiest days. I have always regretted my leaving him as I did. I loved him, and I am sure that, had I continued with him, I should have been a better man and a greater help to him and the Community. I am certain that my love for him then has helped me a great deal since, and has been steadily growing ever since, in spite of adverse circumstances ; and, in my darkest hours, his spirit shone forth and strengthened me, and helped me to dispel evil spirits. I wish to confess my love for Mr. Hamilton, and my confidence in him as a leader. I thank him sincerely for his long-continued patience with me, and his untiring efforts to bring me near to Christ and the Community. " I confess Christ the Controller of my tongue, and a spirit of humility. Sydney." 144 FREE LOVE It is liard to tell whicli is tlie more worthy of admiration — the sensible manner in which Sydney- adapts himself to the situation, or the tact with which he seeks to propitiate Noyes and Hamilton, the lead- ing spirits of the Community. One of the poets of the Community gives the fol- lowing directions to the Saints as to the best manner of taking criticism : " When your faults are kindly told you, Swallow it down; Don't excuse, or make a pother ; Don't rake up things 'gainst another ; Wisely shut your mouth, and rather Swallow it down. "Truth's a splendid appetizer — Swallow it down ; If you think you're wrongly hit, or Some things rather snugly fit, or. In a word, the dose is bitter. Swallow it down. " Shirking only makes it harder ; Swallow it down ; Love is in the dreaded potion ; Cured of many a foolish notion. You will like its inward motion, When swallowed down." But criticism is not always used as an instrument of coercion. ^The Saints frequently request it at the hands of their fellows, in order that they may learn their faults and strive to correct them. " It is regard- ed," says Noyes, " as one of the greatest means of im- provement and fellowship.) There is little danger that the general verdict will be unjust. Criticism is an AND ITS VOTARIES. 145 agency of exposure, of course, and, as sucL, tests a person's moral courage; but it also often takes tlie form of commendation, and reveals hidden virtues as well as secret faults. It is alvrays acceptable to those who wish to see themselves as others see them. "The experience of the Community shows that this method of improvement is effectual. Where it has fair play, it gradually ceases to be needed. There is now but little criticism in the Community com- pared with what was used in its early years ; and, with the young people now growing up, the prospect is that all its severer features will disappear.'' According to the Saints, criticism has still greater virtues. The following communication, which ap- peared in a recent number of The Oircular, declares it to be a potent medicine. The article is worth in- serting here in this connection. It is signed " G. C," and is doubtless the production of Mr. George Cra- gin, Sr. : « 0. C, March 24, 18'70. " Deae ^ CiRCULAE : ' Knowing that you have a partiality for facts of all sorts, and for faith-facts among the rest, I offer the following contribution : " A few weeks ago I found myself suddenly at- tacked with a severe cold, which, as is customary in the family, I refused to notice, supposing it would soon pass off if no attention were paid to it. But it didn't pass away; and, upon further acquaintance with the intruder, I discovered it was by no means of an ordinary character, for with the cold I had a trou- blesome cough and an intermittent fever. My appe- 10 146 FREE LOVE tite, too, succumbed to the enemy, so that food lost its usual attraction ; and, yielding to the feeling that to eat when not hungry would be injurious rather than otherwise, I became indilfferent about going to the table at all. For two weeks I was thus tormented ; and, seeing that the diabolical spirit of disease was not the least inclined to give up the battle, I felt it my duty to employ more effectual means for its expul- sion. Accordingly, I thought of the Criticism-Com- ' mittee, and, at the close of the evening meeting, noti- fied the members of this ^ hoard of health ' that my case needed looking into, and that I would meet them at nine o'clock the next morning. I had required the aid of criticism so many times, that I felt somewhat ashamed of myself for being obliged to confess my need of it again. " Promptly the Committee met, and had my case under inspection. As usual in all such committees, the chairman inquired if I had any remarks to make before they proceeded to the business of dissecting me. I replied that I had no particular remarks to make, but thought the truth would be my best help. In turn, each one of the Committee gave his or her medical judgment of the case. Old weaknesses, that I had supposed were thoroughly conquered, were spo- ken of. My alimentiveness was alluded td, as still producing a slight discord with the family. Starting under inspiration in any work given me to do, and then going on with it after the inspiration had left me, was another weak point. My faults were simply hinted at ; my friends assuming, I suppose, that J AND ITS VOTARIES. 147 ouglit to be a wise man by tMs time. The fact is, tlie kindly feelings, tlie good will, and the manifest desire to help their brother in affliction, were too much for my naturally selfreliant, independent spirit. My equanimity gave way, so that I had to hurry off to my room to give vent to my feelings and emotions, as I was wont to do when a child. "A few hours' reflection brought matters to a head. I saw that old Grahamism had been attempt- ing to act as my physician in throwing off my cold, by suggesting two meals, or one meal, a day. My in- dignation was aroused. I turned the whole posse of quack doctors out of my spirit, that had crept in un- aware, and said aloud to them, * No, no; none but Christ shall administer food or medicine to my body or soul.' " But, in order to give Christ, through his Spirit, a chance to help me, I saw that my first duty was to assume the attitude of a well man. I said, therefore, to all the devils that were abusing me, that I was going to the regular meals of the family three times a day, appetite or no appetite. That decision put me into a sweat, and the fever soon left me. When the whistle sounded for dinner, sickness afc my stomach remonstrated, but I heeded it not, and went to the table. By the pure force of will I ate something. My name had not been sent in as being on the sick- list, requiring the dainties furnished those whose appe- tites need tempting, though I had thought of sending it in. After dinner, I felt as though I had fought a battle and won a victory. Before night, particularly just at supper-time, I was again assailed by a high 148 FREE LOVE fever, and pains and aclies without number. But my courage had increased. My faith also was strength- ened in our pathology — viz., that of ascribing all dis- eases to spiritual causes — and I felt a determination, given me from above, to iight it out on that line, re- gardless of the time it might require to win the day. For a week the battle rasred between the food on the tables and the devils in my stomach. But at last the enemies were conquered. The cough has left me en- tirely, and I have not felt so well for months as I do now. " I have only given an outline-sketch of the facts in my case. The truth given me to take by the Criti- cising-Committee was as truly a substance taken into my spirit, as a blue-pill taken into my stomach would have been, and acted effectually upon my physical as well as upon my spiritual system. There was no hocus-pocus about it. I don't guess, I don't believe — I hiow that the Spirit of truth, the word of God, is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword or visible materia inedica^ piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discoverer of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I therefore can, after twenty- five years of experience, reendorse truth-telling^ or Community criticism^ as good for food and good for medicine. It is good for the healthy, to Iceep them well ; good for the sick, to make them w^ell ; good for the good, to make them better ; and good for the dis- contented, to make them happy. It cures egotism, self conceit, and all forms of disagreeable diseases re- sulting from fungus-growth of individual sovereignty." AND ITS VOTARIES. 149 CHAPTER X. RELIGIOUS BELIEF. Perfectionism. — ^What it is. — Claim of the Oneida Saints to a Religious Founda- tion. — Sketch of Noyes' Doctrines. — The Second Coming of Christ has already Taken Place. — Its Character Spiritual rather than Physical. — A State of Perfect Holiness open to every Believer. — ^Man Saved by his own Faith. — Blasphemous Doctrines. — A Sham Religion. — No Need of a Mediator at the Community. — Strange Ideas of God. — Heaven declared to be Governed on the Free-Love Plan. — Religion and Morality Outraged by the Saints. — Filthiness Opposed to True Christianity. — Statement of the Religious Tenets of the Community. Although living in open violation of the laws of God and of the land, and of what the world regards as morality, the members of the Oneida Community claim that they are justified in the sight of God in their practices, and ought to be held pure by man. In short, they claim that they are the only true Church of Christ on earth. Their peculiar belief they style " Perfectionism." They say they have no formal creed, but are firmly and unanimously attached to the Bible, as the text-book of the Spirit of truth ; to Jesus Christ, as the eternal Son of God ; to the apostles and primitive Church, as the exponents of t*he everlasting gospel. 150 FREE LOVE They believe that the second advent of Christ took place at the period of the destruction of Jerusalem ; that, at that time, there was a primary resurrection and judgment in the spiritual world ; that the final kingdom of God then began in the heavens ; that the manifestation of that kingdom in the visible world is now approaching ; that its approach is ushering in the second and final resurrection and judgment ; that a Church on earth is now rising to meet the approach- ing kingdom in the heavens, and to become its dupli- cate and representative^ that inspiration, or open com- munication with God and the heavens, involving per- fect holiness, is the element of connection between the Church on earth and the Church in the heavens, and the power by which the kingdom of God is to be established and reign in the world. The Saints claim that the Community has its basis in religious ideas. Noyes declares that Communism, as held at Oneida, ^' cannot for a moment be dissev- ered from its theology. The two must be considered together, and together stand or fall." Perfectionism, he argues, is a truth well estab- lished by the Saviour's teachings. Among other texts which he quotes in support of his doctrine, is the fol- lowing : " Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." This he affirms to be a declaration that, if a man commits sin at all, he is in this state of servi- tude ; and that, to be free from such bondage, he must be absolutely sinless. The servant of sin can- not be a Christian. Man may struggle to become free, and due credit will be given him by God for AND ITS VOTARIES. 151 sucli struggles ; but lie Las not done Ms wliole duty until lie lias risen to the highest Christian state of sin- lessness. Being sinless, he is, therefore, perfect ; and being perfect, he is free from the law. " It is appar- ent from the passage under consideration," says he, "that the second conversion which is promised to true disciples is nothing less than a deliverance from all sin. When Christ had said to them that believed on Him, ^ If ye continue in my word, ... ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,' they replied (as persons having a high conceit of their own state naturally would), * We be Abraham's seed,' (^. e.^ members of the true Church,) * and were never in bondage to any man ; how sayest thou. Ye shall be made free ? He answered, Vernly^ veril/y, I say unto you^ Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin ; ' L e., ' Though you are Abraham's seed, the chosen people of God, members of the true Church, externally freemen — though you even believe on me, and have commenced a true discipleship — yet, if you commit sin, the worst of slavery, viz., spiritual bond- age, is upon you.' Thus He plainly gave them to understand that when He said, ^Ye shall be made free,^ He referred to freedom from si7i. And it is evident He intended^ freedom from all sin, from the obvious and necessary import of the sentence, ^ Who- soever committeth sin is the servant of sin.' To say (as some would have it), ^ Whosoever committeth sin habitually is the servant of sin,' would amount to this : ' Whosoever is the servant of sin, is the servant of sin ' — a mere tautology. The interpolation of the 152 FREE LOVE word habitually J or of any equivalent word, is wholly unauthorized, unnecessary, and destructive of the force of the passage. Christ's meaning manifestly is, that the commission of sin is proof of a sinful state of heart, and, consequently, of permanent spiritual bondage to sin — a sentiment which the scrutiny of sound theologians always confirms. Entire freedom from sin, then, is the blessing which Christ promises to His true disciples as the effect of their ultimate knowledge of the truth. With any attainment short of this, a man cannot be said to know the truth, or to possess the libei-ty of the gospel. He may be a be- liever and a true disciple, but he is not, in the highest sense, a Christian. He has not taken the second de- gree in the gospel, to which the first is only an intro- duction." , Holiness, says ISToyes, was the principal object of the atonement ; and it is therefore the duty of every Christian man to attain to this high state. The prim- itive believers, he asserts, were perfect — that is, they were ehtirely holy and without sin. St. Paul was the most illustrious example of Perfectionism, in !N^oyes' estimation ; and he quotes at length from his writ- ings, to prove the truth of the doctrine. It is possible for a man to reach this state of grace, says Noyes. It is the free gift of God, and is within the grasp of every Christian who wdll avail himself of it. The only thing needful is to have faith. " Only believe," and it is possible. It is not necessary that you should practise good works. Char- ity will not save you, even though you give your AND ITS VOTARIES. 153 body to be burned. Prayer is equally useless. " The effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man avail- eth" nothing in this case. Faith is the one thing necessary. You stand up in public, by the side of some brother in the Lord, and take upon yourself a profession of Christ. You say you are freed from the power of sin, and the stain is suddenly washed from your soul. " He stood up and confessed holiness " — such is the form of announcing that a lamb has been brought into the fold of Noyes. It was in this way alone that Noyes and his Saints became perfect. Neither good works nor prayers availed them. They ceased from the latter, and did little of the first. They declared themselves believers in the new doctrine. There was no evidence of their change of heart but their own assertions. They have now no more need of prayer, no more need of a Mediator with God, of sacraments, or of religious observances. They have, by the exercise of faith alone, risen to such a high stage of Christianity that they cannot sin. They are living in a state of perfect holiness. They claim to be pure " even as He is pure." What- ever they do is right. It is impossible for them to sin. Not by Christ's merits, not by virtue of His precious sufferings, have they obtained salvation. They have saved themselves by the exercise of faith. The merit is theirs, not Christ's. They have no need of a Saviour, no need of His pitying, all-powerful love. They are perfect. They are saved. This state of perfection is held by them to be the result of the new dispensation inaugurated by the 154 • • FREE LOVE second coming of Christ, wliicli event they assert took place eighteen hundred years ago, and about the pe- riod of the capture of Jerusalem by Titus. After quoting the various passages in the New Testament in which the Saviour refers to His second coming, Noyes says : " We may sum up and concentrate the testimony we have examined in this section, thus : Christ designated the time of His second coming in six different ways : 1. He placed it immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem. 2. He instructed his disciples to expect it when they should see the fearful signs that should precede and accompany the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, as they would look for summer after the budding of the fig-tree. 3. He most solemn- ly declared that it would take place before the gen- eration contemporary with Himself would pass away. 4. He assured His disciples that it would happen before their ministry to the Jews would be finished. 5. He said there were some standing with Him who should live till the event. 6. He plainly intimated that John should tarry till His coming. " There is abundant proof in the New Testament that the primitive believers understood the foregoing predictions of Christ in their most obvious sense, and accordingly expected the second coming within the lifetime of some of their own number. We will no- tice a few specimens of their customary manner of speech concerning the second coming. ' Ye come be- hind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ;'^ 1 Cor. i. 7. ^ Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we hole for the Saviour^ the AND ITS VOTARIES. 155 Lord Jesus Christ;'' Phil. lii. 20. ^Ye turned to God from idols, to serve tlie living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven ; ' 1 Thess. i. 10, ^ The grace of God . . . hath appeared, . . . teaching us . . . that we should live soberly, . . . looking for that blessed hope and the glori- ous appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;' Titus ii. 11-13. Such language as this is perfectly natural on the supposition that they under- stood Christ's predictions as setting the period of the second coming nigh at hand ; and perfectly unnatural on any other supposition, as is proved by the fact that such language at the present day, when the churches generally believe the second coming to be afar off, is altogether obsolete ; except among those whose theory, like that of Miller, places the second advent very near the present time. Men do not wait and looTc for a far-distant event. . Such language im- plies that the event expected is supposed to be im- pendiiig. ... " In those remarkable passages of Paul which relate to the resurrection, it is impossible not to dis- cover clear evidence of the same confident expectation of the speedy coming of the Lord. ^ We. shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in- corruptible, and we shall he changed ;'' 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. ^ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord^ shall not prevent' (i. d, antici- 156 FREE LOVE pate) * tliem which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we wJiicli are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air;' 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. If Paul had believed the resur- rection to be a far-distant event, he would have said, ' We who will then be dead shall be raised incorrup- tible, and tliey that remain alive shall be changed.' But, in both the instances, where such language might have been expected, he transposes the pronouns we and tliey^ as though he studiously sought to make it manifest that he expected to be himself among the number of the living at the coming of the Lord." So much for the, manner in which Noyes treats the promises of the second coming and the views of the early Christians concerning it. As regards the precise nature of the coming itself, he says : " It would not, therefore, be a strange thing, if it should be found that the second coming was an event very different from the conceptions of it, whether pop- ular or learned, which men have gained by private interpretations of prophecy. Christ may have come at the time appointed, though the Scribes ^ knew him not.' Taking the caution of past examples, we will not assume that He did not come, because popular anticipations were not fulfilled ; but rather, that those anticipations were false, and wholly unworthy to be placed in the balance against the credit of those plain predictions which, as we have seen, appointed the AND ITS VOTARIES. 157 time. At tlie outset of our inquiry concerning the nature of the second coming, we are bound to take for granted that it was an event which, though it may not have been recognized by external historians, was not inconsistent with the true history of the external events which followed the destruction of Jerusalem. This assumption leads us at once to the general con- clusion, that the second coming was an event in the spiritual^ and not in the natural world, " But here let it be observed, by way of caution, that, in placing the second coming in the spiritual, and not in the natural world, we give no place to that foolish unbelief which conceives of nothing but un- substantial and shadpwy existences and events as pertaining to that world. To some minds we may seem to belittle the glorious appearing of Christ, by refeiTing it to the world of souls instead of the world of bodies ; for it is fashionable to regard things spiritual and invisible as little more than things vis- ionary and poetical. But, in our philosophy, mind is more truly a substantial entity than matter, and there is less of poetical nothingness in the spiritual than in the natural world. With these views, if we would magnify the coming of the Lord, we must refer it to a spiritual sphere. We measure the greatness of the event thus : As the body is to the soul, so was the awful overthrow of Jerusalem to the second coming of Christ. The slaughter of eleven hundred thousand Jews was the bodily representative, the visible and inferior index, of that spiritual judgment, in which * the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the 158 FREE LOVE ricli men, and tlie chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman and every freeman, hid them- selves in the dens and rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath is come.' " "The word of the angels at the ascension of Christ, ^ This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heav^en, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts i. 11), is sometimes urged as an objection to the theory of the second com- ing which we have presented. But it may more prop- erly be regarded as a decisive objection to the popular expectation of a puhlic personal advent, visible to the world. For, as we have seen. His nature was that of angels after His resurrection, and His ascension was in the angelic world, as was shown by the presence of the angels who uttered the above declaration. Moreover, He ascended, not in the view of assembled nations, but in the presence of a few of His disciples. The event was of a very private nature ; and, accord- ing to the word of the angels, His subsequent coming was to be equally private, as far as this world was concerned." Holding that Christ has already come the second time, and that those who know the truth are perfect and free from sin, Noyes and his followers declare it to be the duty of all Perfectionists to organize their temporal affairs on a heavenly basis as far as is prac- ticable. The primitive believers, they say, were per- AND ITS VOTARIES. 159 feet ; and as these sold all their possessions, and threw the proceeds into a common fund, no one calling any thing his own, they "believe it to be their duty to do likewise. Perfectionism, they maintain, involves a community of goods ; and, indeed, it is difficult to see how the two can be separated. A community of. goods, they add, and with truth, involves a com- munity of persons, or of wives. It is, of course, im- possible to break down exclusive possession in all things else, and retain it in the domestic relations. It must not be thought that the Saints, in de- nouncing Christianity as it is recognized by the world, deny also the Word of God. On the contrary, they claim that theirs is merely a more advanced compli- ance with the will of God as revealed in His Word. They hold to the Bible as the chart of their 'faith, and, to their own satisfaction at least, refer to it in support of their practices. It has often been said, that a man can prove any thing by the Bible — even the falsity of the religion it teaches ; and this ISToyes and his Saints have done. Noyes, indeed, claims that he has proved, " at the outset, that that Church (the Christian) has had at the very heart of its system of faith, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem, an enor- mous error — nothing less than a palpable denial of the plainest word that Christ ever spoke." We have endeavored to state their belief in their own words, as simply as possible, avoiding all discussion of their propositions, and leaving the reader to form his own opinion in the matter. In the same spirit of fairness, we conclude this chapter with the following brief 160 FREE LOVE statement, in their own language, of some of tlieir doctrines with regard to other matters as well as those already mentioned : "That the Bible is the accredited organ of the kingdom of heaven. " That the final interpreter of the Bible is not the Church, a^ the Papists hold; or the philologists, as the Protestants hold ; but the Spirit of Truth, prom- ised to all believers. " That Bible-faith is, always and everywhere, faith in supernatural facts and sensible communications from God. " That man has an invisible spiritual organization, which is as substantial as his body. "That God is a dual being; and that man, as male and female, is made in the image of God. " That evil originates in the devil, as good origi- nates in God. " That all diseases of body and soul are traceable to diabolical influences, and that all rational medica- tion and salvation must overcome this spiritual cause. " That Christ, in the sacrifice of Himself, overcame the devil, and thus destroyed the spiritual cause of sin and death. " That, after the death and resurrection of Christ, a new dispensation of grace commenced, entirely dif- ferent from the preceding Jewish dispensation. " That the special promise and gift of this new dispensation is salvation from sin. " That the second birth, including salvation from AND ITS VOTARIES. 161 sin, was never experienced till tLe manifestation of Christ. " That regeneration comes by apprehending the resurrection of Christ, and receiving the same power that raised Him from the dead. " That Christ predicted, and His followers expected, that His second advent would take place within one generation from His first coming; that all the signs of this event which He foretold came to pass before the close of the apostolic age ; consequently, that sim- ple faith is compelled to affirm that He did come the second time, at or near the period of the destruction of Jerusalem." 11 162 FREE LOVE CHAPTER XL \1 / 80 CIAL OEGANIZATION Marriage Abolished, and a System of Licentiousness called " Compl ex _ M arriage*^ I»trodtitiM:^^^^^^^Ho^-t»rWtnnair^r& One Humired fiusBands, and a Man an Equal Number of Wives. — Arguments of Noyes against Marriage. — I Marriage held to be Selfish and Sinful. — Lustfulness declared Holy and 1 . Liberal. — Blasphemous Declarations. — Noyes^Thgfliy. ft£. Xove. — He 1 I the Heart can Love any Number of Persons at the Same Time. — Selfishness I ' Banished from the Community. — Men and Women the Common Property i of Each Other, and must Love all Alike. — The True Character of Free Love. — It is Founded in Licentiousness. — Father Noyes' Definition of Free Love. — He Claims to Uphold Marriage, yet Advocates Immorality. — A Bad . Showing by the Apostle of Filth. — An Impudent and Weak Document. The social organization of tlie Oneida Community, althougli declared by Noyes to be " easily explained and readily understood," is so curious and monstrous that I almost shrink from tlie task of explaining it to the reader. It stands alone in this land of modern ideas and bold innovations. The system practised here is called by the Saints "Bible Communism;" and they do not hesitate to assure you that heaven is managed on the same plan; that the abode of the blessed is, in short, a vast Oneida Community in its social features. The Community constitute one large family, the AND ITS VOTARIES. 163 members being united to eacli other in a system of " complex marriage." In the original compact be- tween Noyes and his wife, they mutually agreed not to be exclusively devoted to each other, but to receive others into their unity. In plain English, Noyes, although compelled to submit to a legal marriage, was resolved not to abide by its requirements. In the Paradise which he meant to establish there was to be " neither marrying nor giving in marriage." " Per- sons entering our midst," said Mr. Allen to me, " marry the Community. We have no selfish unions. Each woman is the wife of every man in the Com- munity, and each man the husband of every woman." Marriage, as we of the Christian world understand and practise it, has been done away with by Noyes and his followers. That sacred institution, established by God in the Garden of Eden, and exalted by one branch of the Christian Church into a sacrament, has been utterly abolished by these modern Saints, on the ground that it is selfish and unholy. " In the king- dom of heaven," says Noyes, " the institution of mar- riage, which assigns the exclusive possession of one woman to one man, does not exist. In the kingdom of heaven the intimate union of life and interest, which in the world is limited to pairs, extends through the whole body of believers ; i, e., complex marriage takes the place of simple." This abolition of " simple marriage," as he terms it, he claims is in accordance with the teachings of the Apostle Paul, as well as in conformity with the state of affairs in heaven. " Admitting," says he, " that the r 164 FREE LOVE Community principle of tlie day of Pentecost, in its actual operation at tliat time, extended only to mate- rial goods, yet we affirm that there is no intrinsic dif- ference between property in persons and property in things ; and that the same spirit which abolished ex- clusiveness in regard to money, would abolish, if cir- cumstances allowed full scope to it, exclusiveness in regard to women and children. Paul expressly places property in women and property in goods in the same category, and speaks of them together, as ready to be abolished by the advent of the kingdom- of heaven. . . . The abolishment of exclusiveness is involved in the love-relation required between all believers, by the express injunction of Christ and the apostles, and by the whole tenor of the 'New Testament. The new commandment is, that we love one another, and that not by pairs, as in the world, but en masse. We are required to love one another fervently. The fashion of the world forbids a man and woman who are otherwise appropriated to love one another fervently. But, if they obey Christ, they must do this. . . . " The abolishment of the marriage system is in- volved in Paul's doctrine of the end of ordinances. Marriage is one of the ^ ordinances of the worldly sanctuary.' This is proved by the fact that it has no place in the resurrection. Paul expressly limits it to life in the flesh. The assumption, therefore, that be- lievers are dead to the world by the death of Christ (which authorized the abolishment of Jewish ordi- nances), legitimately makes an end of marriage. \ "... The law of marriage ^worketh wrath.' AND ITS VOTARIES. 165 1. It provokes to secret adultery, actual, or of the heart. 2. It ties together unmatched natures. 3. It sunders matched natures. 4. It gives to sexual appe- tite only a scanty and monotonous allowance, and so produces the natural vices of poverty, contraction of taste, and stinginess, or jealousy. 5. It makes no pro- vision for the sexual appetite at the very time v^^hen that appetite is the strongest. By the custom of the world, marriage, in the average of cases, takes place at about the age of twenty-four; whereas puberty commences at the age of fourteen. For ten years, therefore, and that in the very flush of life, the sexual appetite is starved. This law of society bears hard- est on females, because they have less opportunity of choosing their time of marriage than men. This dis- crepancy between the marriage system and nature is one of the principal sources of the peculiar diseases of women — of prostitution, masturbation, and licen- tiousness in general." > . ^ By such arguments as these do the Saints seek to do away with Christian marriage. It is selfish, it is unholy, they say ; it violates the laws of God and of nature, and must be put down. Having set aside marriage as unholy, they have organized the relations of the sexes in their Eden upon a footing of perfect equality and entire freedom. Marriage being " complex," and not " simple," men and women are perfectly free to indulge their fancies for each other, and to change the objects of those fan- cies as often as they may see fit. Noyes places a high estimate upon the proper regulation of sexual inter- 166 FREE LOVE course. "Any attempt," says he, "to revolutionize sexual morality before settlement vv^itli God, is out of order. Holiness must go before free love." In other words, a man must first reconcile himself with God, and become holy by the exercise of his faith in Noyes' doctrines, and he may then, with perfect propriety, make love to and have intercourse with any female member of the Oneida Community. This m.ay be very good from Mr. Noyes' standpoint, but the world regards it as adultery, and the law of God brands it with the same stigma. Noyes' declaration, given above, is simply blasphemous. Selfishness is the essence of marriage as practised in the world, say the Saints, and must be put aside. Selfishness argues sinfulness, and cannot be encour- aged or practised by perfect beings. Selfishness with regard to persons stands on the same footing with selfishness with regar-d to property. In both cases it is of the devil. In the world, marriage is based upon love for a single individual. Among the Saints, it is based upon free love. A man or woman can love but one person truly, says the worldling. One can only love truly by loving a number, says the Saint; for, in simple marriage, the passion is but partially developed, whereas, in complex marriage, it is displayed in its /highest form. " Sexual love," says Noyes, " is not naturally restricted to pairs. Second marriages are contrary to the one-love theory, and yet are often the happiest marriages. Men and women find universally (however the fact may be concealed), that their sus- AND ITS VOTARIES. 167 ceptibility to love is not burnt out by one honeymoon, or satisfied by one lover. On tlie contrary, tlie secret history of tlie human heart will bear out the asser- tion, that it is capable of loving any number of times and any number of persons, and that, the more it loves, the more it can love. This is the law of na- ture, thrust out of sight and condemned by common j consent, and yet secretly known to all." But the Saints go further than this. They not only believe that the heart can go out to any number of persons with true conjugal. love, but assert boldly that this love is not, as the world has so long be- lieved, an irresponsible and inevitable fatality, which must have its own course. They claim that it can be regulated and guided, and that, by means of such dis- cipline, it will produce a better result than if left en- tirely to itself. In the Community the affections are made the subject of criticism, by which they are shaped and directed. Young persons who grow up in the Community, and converts coming in from the world without, are supposed to be ignorant of the true nature of love, and must be instructed and trained in it. They must be taught to love each and every member alike. There must be no partialities, no selfishness. You may love a woman most de- votedly, but you must be ready to yield her to the embrace of any brother Saint who seeks her society. Any reluctance on your part is selfish and sinful, and must be criticised out of you. And you, my fair sis- ter, must be ready to accept the love of any brother. You have no right to dislike him. He has a right to 168 FREE LOVE your love, and to every privilege involved in it. You can have no preference for any one. " It is not de- sirable," says your cLief, " for two persons, whatever may be their standing, to become exclusively attached to each other — to worship and idolize each other — however popular this experience may be with senti- mental people generally. They regard exclusive, idolatrous attachment as unhealthy and pernicious, wherever it may exist. The Communities insist that the heart should be kept free to love all the true and worthy, and should never be contracted with exclu- siveness or idolatry, or purely selfish love in any form." Having broken down marriage and instituted a system of j)romiscuous intercourse between the sexes — a system in gross violation of both divine and civil law — this man, John Humphrey Noyes, has the impu- dence to assert that he and his followers do not merit the name of " Free Lovers " which public opinion has bestowed upon them. Their practices, he emphatical- ly declares, are not licentious. Wishing to do him the amplest justice, we close this chapter with the fol- lowing statement from his pen : " This terrible combination of two very good ideas — freedom and love — was first used by the writers of the Oneida Community about twenty-one years ago, and probably originated with them. It was, how- ever, soon taken up by a very different class of specu- AND ITS VOTARIES. 169 lators scattered about tlie country, and Las come to be the name. of a form of socialism witli whicL. we have but little affinity. Still, it is sometimes applied to our Communities ; and as we are certainly responsi- ble for starting it into circulation, it seems to be our duty to tell what meaning we attach to it, and in what sense we are willing to accept it as a designa- tion of our social system. "The obvious and essential difference between marriage and licentious connections may be stated thus : " Marriage is a permanent union. Licentiousness deals in temporary flirtations. " In marriage, communism of property goes with communism of persons. In licentiousness, love is paid for as hired labor. " Marriage makes a man responsible for the conse- quences of his acts of love to a woman. In licen- tiousness, a man imposes on a woman the heavy bur- dens of maternity, ruining, perhaps, her reputation and her health, and then goes his way without respon- sibility. " Marriage provides for the maintenance and edu- cation of children. Licentiousness ignores children as nuisances, and leaves them to chance. " 'Now, in respect to every one of these points of difference between marriage and licentiousness, we 'S'tand with mar^riage. Free love, with us, does not mean freedom to love tc-day and leave to-moiTow ; nor freedom to take a woman's person and keep our property to ourselves ; nor freedom to freight a 170 FREE LOVE woman with our offspring, and send her down-stream without care or help ; nor freedom to beget children and leave them to the street and the poor-house. Our Communities are families^ as distinctly "bounded and separated from promiscuous society as ordinary house- holds. The tie that binds us together is as perma- nent and sacred, to say the least, as that of marriage, for it is our religion. We receive no new members (except by deception or mistake) who do not give heart and hand to the family interest for life and for- ever. Community of property extends just as far as freedom of love. Every man's care and every dollar of the common property is pledged for the mainte- nance and protection of the women and the education of the children of the Community. Bastardy, in any disastrous sense of the word, is simply impossible in such a social state. Whoever will take the trouble to follow our track from the beginning, will find no for- saken women or children by the way. In this respect we claim to be in advance of marriage and civiliza- tion. " We are not sure how far the class of socialists called ^ Free Lovers ' would claim for themselves any thing like the above defence from the charge of reck- less and cruel freedom ; but our impression is, that their position, scattered as they are, without organiza- tion or definite separation from surrounding society, makes it impossible for them to follow and care for the consequences of their freedom, and thus exposes them to the just charge of licentiousness. At all events, their platform is entirely different from ours, AND ITS VOTARIES. - 171 aad they must answer for tliemselves. We are not ' Free Lovers ' in any sense that makes love less bind- ing or responsible than it is in marriage. " Having thus disclaimed the freedom of licen- tiousness, we must now complete our definition of Free Love, by also disclaiming some of the liberties of marria2;e. " Freedom used to be understood, at the South, to be liberty for a man to ^ wallop his nigger.' Some- thing like this kind of one-sided freedom — liberty of the strong to oppress the weak — seems to be recog- nized and tolerated as inevitable and right in all the popular forms of sexual relations. Marriage, not less — ^perhaps even more — than the looser sexual institu- tions, places woman in the power of man. The liber- ty of marriage, as commonly understood and prac- tised, is the liberty of a man to sleep habitually with a woman ; liberty to please himself alone in his deal- ings with her ; liberty to expose her to child-bearing, without care or consultation. " The term ^ Free Love,' as understood by the Oneida Community, does not mean any such freedom of sexual proceedings as this. The household ar- rangements of our families provide separate sleeping apartments for the sexes, and, as far as possible and agreeable, for individuals. The theory of sexual in- terchange which governs all the general measures of the Community, and which it is bound to realize sooner or later, and as soon as it can, is just that which in ordinary society governs the proceedings in courtship. It is the theory of the equal rights of 172 FREE LOVE women and men, and the freedom of both from habit- ual and legal obligations to personal fellowship. It is the theory that love after marriage, and always and forever, should be what it is hefore marriage — a glow- ing attraction on both sides, and not the odious obli- gation of one party, and the sensual recklessness of the other. h " Besides all this, Oneida Communists have a spe- cial theory in regard to the act of sexual intercourse itself, which places it under unusual restrictions. I They hold that two distinct kinds of sexual inter- course ought to be recognized : one simply social, and the other propagative; and that the propagative should only be exercised when impregnation is in- tended and mutually agreed uj)on. It is difficult to treat such a subject as this freely in these columns. We barely allude to it for the present, referring the reader to what we have published in other forms. But we assure all who really wish to know the inner truth about us^ that a clear understanding of us on this point is most essential. Sexual intercourse with- out the j^ropagative act (except when propagation is intended) is all that we tolerate in Free Love ; and this will sooner or later be known to be a very differ- ent affair from that kind of sexual commerce against which all criminal statutes are directed. So far as this matter is concerned. Free Love,- in the Oneida sense of the term, is much less free, in the gross, sen- I sual way, than marriage. " The thing we have done, for which we are called * Free Lovers,' is simply this : "We have left the sim- AND ITS VOTARIES. 173 pie form of marriage, and advanced to the complex stage of it. We have no quarrel with those who be- lieve in exclusive dual marriage and faithfully observe it, but we have concluded that, for us, there is a bet- ter way. The honor and faithfulness that constitute an ideal marriage, may exist between two hundred as well as two ; while the guarantees for women and children are much greater in the Community than they can be in any private family. The results of the complex system we may sum up by saying, that men are rendered more courteous, women more winning, children are better born, and \>oih sexes are person- ally free." ( ) ■ (174/ ' FREE LOVE CHAPTER XII. SOCIAL MYSTEEIES. Difficulty of Laying the Case properly before the Reader. — Marriage being Abol- ished, Promiscuous Intercourse of the Sexes becomes the Rule at the Com- munity, — The Total Abolition of Female Virtue the Result of Free Love. — Quarrels of the Saints. — Merely Men and Women, and very Imperfect Specimens at that. — ^A Gross Misrepresentation of the Truth. — Universal Prostitution required of Every One. — The Women have really no such Pro- tection as Noyes Claims for them. — Selfishness not Allowed. — How the Principle of Sympathy Works. — Practical Illustrations. — Members Criticised into Submission. — No Exclusive Affection Allowed. — Women cannot have a Single Lover. — The Rotation System. — What it Means. — The Doctrine of Ascending Fellowship. — Its True Meaning. — Nature Outraged. — Old Men make a Business of Seducing the Young Girls. — Immoral Old Women. — A Frightful State of Affairs. — Unnatural Unions of Youth and Age. — Terrible and Startling Revelations. — Sad Fate of the Young Members of the Com- munity. — Condemning Children to Vice. — Noyes' Libertine Theories. — How the Children are Initiated into the Mysteries of Free Love. — Female Purity Outraged by the Saints. — Acquiring Self-Control. — Disgusting Practices of the Saints. — Incest. — A Father Living in open Adultery with his own Daughter. — The Community Sanction the Crime. — How Courtships are Managed at the Community. — The Rule of Assigning Partners a Dead Letter. — The Fruits of Licentiousness. — Liberal Ideas. — Brick Pomeroy's Opinion of the System. — Candid Confessions of the Saints. — A Filthy and Degraded Set. — " No One has any Right to Complain." — A Queer Use to put a Mother to. I HAVE examined tlie theorj of the relation of the sexes held by Noyes and his followers, and have stated it in the language of the former. I shall now glance at the practical workings of this theory as seen in the every-day life of the Community. AND ITS VOTARIES. 175 There is no marriage here, consequently there are « no sucli things as husbands and wives. All are brothers and sisters. Even the relations of father, mother, parent, child, give way to this universal bro- therhood. Men and women are entirely unrestrained in their approaches to each other. Promiscuous inter- course is the rule. No man has any claim to the ex- clusive possession of any woman, and no woman can keep herself entirely for any one man. Each person is the property of the Community, and must submit to the will of the whole body. Apart from its busi- ness organization, the Community is based upon a total abolition of female virtue. The women are the common property of the men, and vice versa. No woman being a wife can claim a husband's protection against the advances of those who are personally re- pugnant to her. She must submit. She must love \ all alike. In. spite of the assertions of the Saints, this Com- munity of persons is not the happiest assemblage in the world. Quarrels do break out here, jealousies do exist, sometimes secret and smouldering, sometimes open and bitter. These Saints, perfect as they claim to be, are merely men and women, endowed with the same feelings and passions which distinguish their fel- lows in the world without. Though they have sepa- rated themselves from that world, they have not changed their natures, and they must be judged by the same rules by which ordinary humanity is tried. It will be plain to every reader that, in a Com- munity in which the person of a female is at the 176 FREE LOVE mercy of every man, tliere will always be more than one applicant for the favors of the most attractive woman. She must make her selection for the time, and must then go the round of all her suitors. Not to do this, is to violate the essential principle of sym- pathy of which the Saints Loast so loudly. She must love all alike. Anothei: principle, well known and carried out in the Communities, is, that persons shall not he obliged to receive^ under any circumstances^ the attentions of those whom they do not like. They abhor rapes, whether committed under the cover of marriage or elsewhere. The Communities are pledged to protect all their members from disagreeable social approaches. Every woman is free to refuse every man's attentions." This is very fair in theoiy, but it is not maintained in the practice of the Community. Indeed, it is opposed to the vital principle of sympathy. A woman cannot love every member alike, if some are disagreeable to her. She must have no preference. It is the same with a man. Each person is given to understand that he or she must be in sympathy with each and every other member of the Community, and must be ready and willing at all times to " confer happiness," as the Saints express it, upon any one desiring their affec- tions. A sister attracts the attention of some brother, who desires her society. The brother does not suit her fancy, and she declines to " confer happiness " upon him. If Noyes tells the truth in the above statement, she is exercising an inalienable right. The AND ITS VOTARIES. 177 facts of the case, however, prove that he has not' stated the matter fairly. The woman's refusal shows that she is not in sympathy with, that she does not love perfectly, at least one member or the Communi- ty. She is a proper subject for criticism, and is at once condemned to that ordeal, until, wearied out, and her moral courage broken down, she consents to accept the love of the brother in question, and to receive such attentions as he sees fit to offer her. On the other hand, it sometimes happens that men and women fancy each other to such a degree, that to each the thought of relinquishing the other is tor- ment. As long as the Community are satisfied to let them alone, all goes well ; but at length there comes a time when some member, male or female, desiring the society of one or the other, makes a demand for it. Then, any reluctance to separate is denounced as sinful, as selfish. No matter how devotedly the cou- ple may love one another, each must be prepared to relinquish the other to some one else upon the first demand. They are criticised until their reluctance to do this is conquered ; or, if they persist in their self- ishness, they must leave the Community. So much is this ordeal of criticism dreaded, and so anxious are the members to be in full sympathy with the Com- munity, that it rarely happens that any serious resist- ance is offered in this respect. The women, having given themselves over to this species of debauchery, rarely make any effort to resist their fate. On the contraiy, the most of them, having their appetites whetted by the life they lead, enjoy the variety at 12 178 FREE LOVE their command, and would seriously object to any in- terruption iu the rotation system. The men naturally prefer the present arrangement. It gives them a wider field for the gratification of their lusts, and fur- nishes each Saint with about one hundred mistresses instead of one. The leaders of the Community are men past the middle age, or advanced in years, and, with the cun- ning of old rou^s, have invented a system for their own benefit, which they call the principle of "As- cending Fellowship." "It is regarded better," says JSToyes, " for the young of both sexes to associate in love with persons older than themselves, and, if pos- sible, with those who are spiritual and have been some time in the school of self control, and who are thus a])le to make love safe and edifyinp;. This," he continues, " is only another form of the popular prin- ciple of contrasts. It is well understood by physiolo- gists, that it is undesirable for persons of similar char- acters and temperaments to mate together. Com- munists have discovered that it is not desirable for two inexperienced and unspiritual persons to rush into fellowship with each other ; that it is far better for both to associate with persons of mature character and sound sense." Nothing could be more coolly in- famous, more utterly revolting, than this deliberate statement. There are in the Community certain men and women of advanced age. These are looked up to as the wisest and best of the body, having been the original members. Their wishes have naturally great- AND ITS VOTARIES. 179 er weight than those of more recent converts, for they are the veterans who fought the early battles and won the first triumphs of the Community. For their bene- fit this infamous system has been invented — a sys- tem which rivals in unnaturalness the most infamous " mysteries " of the most corrupt Roman period. Their mode of life has kept their passions up to the highest stage, and has not permitted them to cool with" their declining years. They are failing in bod- ily vigor, but their salacious appetites are still strong. In order to satisfy them, they have invented and put in practice this infamous system of mating couples which Nature has separated. The young, just coming into possession of those feelings which, rightly direct- ed, are the source of life's greatest happiness, are con- signed to the society of partners utterly unsuited to them. Nature designs a young woman for a young man, and has placed every possible barrier between the union of age and youth, and, as the penalty of a violation of her laws, has usually cursed all such unions with physical sufferings, which cannot be men- tioned hel"e, but which every physician has more or less practical knowledge of. Yet Noyes and his Saints have set this law at defiance, and have inaugu- rated the contrary practice. In judging their act, we must not be blinded by their religious protestations or fine phrases. Their principle of ascending fellow- ship may be to them a very pretty theory, but it is used only to cover their own licentiousness. They know that an impure old man desires a young com- panion, and a lecherous old woman a vigorous lover. 180 FREE LOVE Tlierefore ttey, being able to control tbeir fellows, have put sucb a shameful system into practice, and have impudently tried to exalt it to the dignity of religion and of science. It is pure licentiousness, whatever they may call it, and is practised only be- cause it gives Noyes and the elders possession of the persons of the young women of the Community, and the young men are given to the old women merely to secure their acquiescence in the scheme. • Can any thing be more revolting to nature than the yoking of a young girl just budding into woman- hood with an old man whose feet are fast going down to the grave ? Equally revolting is the practice of compelling vigorous young men to be the companions of women old enough to be their grandmothers. Yet this is the. practical result of the doctrine of " ascend- ing fellowship." The natural affections and appetites must be stifled, and in their place a system utterly horrible and disgusting must be adopted. I have felt the profoundest pity for some of the young people of the Community. The majority of the old women are hideous and loathsome '^n appear- ance, and it seems to me the most horrible fate in the world to be linked with one of them even for the short period of a few days. There are a few fresh, attractive young women in the place, and, if they be human beings in heart and soul, the society of the elders, to which the customs of the Community con- demn them, must be torture to them. The object of all this, says Noyes, is " to teach every one self con- trol ; " and certainly a severer, more ingenious method AND ITS VOTARIES. 181 of accompli shing this end, could not have been de- vised. Ah, the terril)le heart-histories that could be told by the Saints, were they free to speak the truth — the struggles, the crushed affections, the better and nobler feelings degi'aded, or "conquered," as these people term it. What a volume would they form, could they be written out ; and how strangely would they contrast with the assertions of the Saints, that perfect happiness and contentment reign in their midst ! I grant that Noyes and his assistants may succeed in degrading human beings to such a level that they will accept any thing and every thing with that recklessness or apathy which is so often seen in inmates of brothels ; but that this is a condition of perfect happiness, the writer entirely denies ; and he believes that, could the members of the Community speak the convictions of their better moments, they would sustain him in this denial. Even Noyes him- self confesses that his followers do sometimes rebel against the practices to which they are condemned. Even he bears unwilling witness to the struggles which their better natures make against their degra- dation ; but he blasphemously attributes these out- breaks, these strong efforts of the little that is divine in human nature against the fate he assigns it, to the influence of Satan. They are the result of selfishness, of unholiness, he says ; and, in his eyes, to put out this divine spark, to degrade one's self to the level of a prostitute or an adulterer, is to be perfectly holy. And this practice, he tells us, is enjoined by God^ and prevails in the kingdom of heaven. 182 FREE LOVE As I rode across the country from Oneida to the Community, the driver of my caniage said to me : " There is one thing that will astonish you, sir ; and that is, the outrageous way in which they give young girls to old men and young men to old women." This seemed to be, in his estimation, the chief sin of the Saints. Rough and plain as the lad was, he was a human being. Though unable to refute the argu- ments of Noyes and his followers, the humanity in him rose up and denounced them and their practices. rBut Noyes has not only discovered that this sys- tem of yoking youth and age is in accordance with the heavenly plan ; he has taken another step in viola- tion of Nature's laws. It is made the business of the Community to train up the young to a life of immo- ^ rality. " By the custom of the world," says Noyes, "marriage, in the average of cases, takes place at /about the age of twenty-four ; whereas puberty com- mences at the age of fourteen. For ten years, there- fore, and that in the very flush of life, the sexual ap- petite is starved. This law of society bears the hard- est on females, because they have less opportunity of choosing their time of marriage than men. This dis- crepancy between the marriage system and Nature is one of the principal sources of the peculiar diseases of women — of prostitution, masturbation, and licen- tiousness in general." Submit this passage, reader, to any man of the world, and he will tell you it is the opinion of a liber- tine — of a man accustomed to view woman solely as the instrument of his sensual pleasure, and blind to ' AND ITS VOTARIES. 183 the liigber and nobler phases of her character. View- ing her through the medium of his own lusts, she is consumed by the same passions that devour him. She is in liis eyes a Messalina from the age of puberty, and craves a premature gratification of her unnatural desires. Science takes a very different view of the case. It is a fact as well established as the theory of the circu- lation of the blood, that puberty does not bring with it all the requisites for the healthy satisfaction of the sexual appetite. The body does not possess the neces- sary vigor to withstand the strain put upon it by this exercise ; and it is a fact established beyond all ques- tion, that an habitual indulgence in the practice at this tender age is sure to sap the vigor of both body and mind, and to entail upon the victim a series of physical ills from which the prudent person shrinks appalled. It is for this reason that, in civilized coun- tries, marriage is postponed for some years after the age of puberty. So true is the scientific view, of the case, that nothing short of a direct revelation from j heaven can prove the contrary. Such a revelation Noyes claims has been given him, and, in accordance with it, the young members of the Community are initiated into the rites of im- morality at a very tender age. A young girl, just budding into womanhood — say at the sweet and un- suspecting age of fifteen — attracts the attention and arouses, by her beauty and grace, the passions of one of the old men of the Community. Perhaps the hoary wretch has watched her gradual growth from 184 FREE LOVE childliood to maidenliood, and has gloated over his prospective enjoyment of her charms. He causes her to be informed, or informs her himself, that she has now reached the age w^hen she must take Upon herself the duties of a woman. She is already wife to every man in the Community, and he quiets her conscience by assuring her that she will be simply doing her duty by complying with his wishes. She is at the. most unsuspicious and susceptible period of a woman's life ; and she, even in this den of infamy, has had some hopes of tasting of a woman's happiness — to love and be loved by some one suited to her in years and freshness of heart. A cruel awakening is in store for her. Instead of an honest lover, she finds a base seducer. Instead of satisfying the demands of her heart and nature, she is told that she must conquer them — that she must acquire self-control. She cannot even choose her lover. She must take the one given her by the Community, and he is sure to be one against whom her maidenly and natural instincts will revolt. Am I wrong, reader ? What young girl seeks of her own accord a life of infamy, before she is well aware of the meaning of the word? What maiden fresh and pure, full of all the sweet hopes and aspirations of youth, voluntarily seeks the arms of a graybeard, w-hen lovers suited to her in youth, vigor, and comeliness, are at hand ? Ah, John Humphrey Noyes, you may bring women to believe in your doc- trine when you have so far degraded them that their moral and natural instincts are destroyed ; but could you read the hearts of the young girls your teachings AND ITS VOTARIES. 186 condemn to infamy, you would find there an eloquent refutation of your base theories. Young men are, as a rule, wiser in these affairs than young girls. Physicians, and those accustomed'^ to deal with such matters, are unanimous in their tes- timony that a majority of women reach a marriage- able age either in ignorance of the duties a wife owes her husband, or with very imperfect notions upon the subject. It is not so with young men, too many of J whom part with their purity, either in act or thought, very soon after the passions causing such a step make themselves felt. Man's nature is rougher than wom- an's. He does not shrink from impurity as she does, and immorality finds him an easier victim. This is the case at the Oneida Community. It is easier to lead the boys astray than to corrupt the girls. The old men, however, have little to do with this branch of the business. They content themselves with seducing the girls, arid leave the youths to the care of the old women. These aged dames are adepts in the art of arousing and stimulating the passions of the youths in their hands. They are firm believers in Noyes' theory of satisfying the sexual appetite at its first dawning, and carefully instil lessons of immoral- ity into the minds of their pupils. Veterans in ob- scenity and licentiousness, they aim to make their young companions equally proficient ; and, like the men, they profess to do all this in accordance with the will of Heaven. If a young girl, innocent and unsuspicious, and scarcely knowing the nature of the fate to which she 186 FREE LOVE is condemned, struggles against it, how much more horrible must such a doom appear to the stronger and more knowing sex ? He must be either more or less than man who can prefer a shrivelled crone to a blooming maiden, the doctrine of ascending fellow- ship to the contrary notwithstanding. I do not think the younger Saints at Oneida either more or less than men. They seemed to me just such individuals as I find in the world around me ; and I was more than ever impressed with their humanity, when I failed to find a single one who seemed to me either perfectly happy, "or even as bright and lively as the average youth of the county. I did not wonder at this when I saw the old women to whose society they were con- demned, and I came to the conclusion that they all found the process of acquiring self control a very pain- ful and disgusting one. Doubtless the reader will ask. Why do not these young people rebel against such a system ? It would be useless. The young members are a decided minor- ity, and must either be in sympathy with the old, for whose benefit the system was invented, or leave the Community. Again, it may be argued that Noyes has declared as a cardinal principle of the Community, that no woman shall be compelled to submit to the attentions of those personally disagreeable to her. This is Noyes' profession, it is true, but it is not the practice of the Community. To object to any mem- ber is to be out of sympathy with him, and therefore with the Community, who insist that all shall love and be loved alike. The unsympathetic member is AND ITS VOTARIES. 187 suT:)jected to the ordeal of criticism. The torture is made sharp and prolonged, and the victim submits. Besides, Noyes' remark applies only to the vromen. It is not always possible, however, to keep young lovers apart. Like will seek like, and love will blos- som and flourish in spite of the principle of ascending fellowship, even if it must do so in secret. Stolen interviews are the result. The young do enjoy each other's society, and even Father Noyes' potential word is set at defiance. Viewing the matter in the light of complex marriage, there can be no harm in this. Noyes has no right to complain if the young do asso ciate together. No one possesses any thing exclusive- ly here. Women are free to grant favors to whom they please, and men can seek pleasure anywhere. A young Saint seeking the smiles of a blooming damsel is guilty only of infidelity to the principle of ascend- ing fellowship. In all other respects he is guiltless. In the Oneida Community all the distinctions of ' the world without are done away with. As there are no husbands and wives, as in the world, so there are no parents and children. Men and women are simply brothers and sisters. A man is married in the Com- munity to each and every woman in it. He may have a sister, a mother, a daughter, among the Saints. He is simply her brother, and marries her with the ^ rest. In view of this peculiar relation towards her, he may take her to his bed without sin. In plain English, according to the doctrine of the Oneida Com- munity, a man may have sexual intercourse with his grandmother, mother, daughter, sister, or with all of 188 FREE LOVE them, and be blameless. The world calls this incest, and brands it as a crime of the darkest dye. God's holy Word emphatically denounces it as of the devil ; but at the Oneida Community it is regarded simply as conferring happiness, and is perfectly lawful and right. One of the Saints informed Mr. Pomeroy,* during a recent visit, that one of the members of the Community was living in such a relation with one of his two daughters, the other being given for the time to another Saint. And yet, these people would have the world believe that their practices are to prevail in ithe kingdom of heaven. " Still another principle," says the Handbook, " is, that it is best for men, in their approaches to women, to invite personal interviews, through the intervention of a third party, for two important reasons : viz., first, that the matter may be brought in some measure under the inspection of the Community ; and, second- ly, that the women may decline proposals, if they choose, without embarrassment or restraint." This is the law. Mr. Cragin says, that persons wishing to associate together make their proposals through a third party, and do not even speak to each other on the subject until the decision of the Community is known. This law is not always observed, however. Men and women do seek each other s society in sepa- rate interviews, without seeking the permission of the Community. Love being free, and each one being free to confer happiness at will, no one has the right to complain. * Brick Pomeroy. AND ITS VOTARIES. 189 ^^ * Our love for eacli other,' said one of tlie Saints to Mr. Pomeroy, * is so perfect, that we do not consid- er that we \vrong a brother in honoring or conferring happiness or pleasure upon a woman who may be wifely to him, as you use the term.' " ^ Well,' said Brick, overcome by such generosity, * this is about the mellowest liberality we ever heard of. Do you allow the same privileges to outsiders — newspaper men, &c. — who come here ? ' " ' By no means,' was the reply. * None but those of our family partake of the family property.' " ' Some of these days,' continued the visitor, bent on getting at the bottom of the matter, ' we may be- come disgusted with the way things are conducted in this world, and apply for admission here, giving you an opportunity to black-ball or admit us, as you see fit. Knowing something about how things are con- ducted outside, we w^ould know how they are man- aged here ; then we can judge which is best.' " ^ Well, sir, should you come here, a committee would consider all these questions, &c., and, after you had become acquainted and expressed a desire to have as your companion or "mother" a certain* woman, this committee would ask her if she had any objections, &c. You would be brought together, and if your affinity, so to speak, ran to each other, why, it would be all right.' " ^ Suppose your association should see fit to give us, a wann-blooded vigorous delegate — should appor- tion to us, as our part of the profits of this associa- tion, a venerable dame, old enough to be our grand 190 FREE LOVE motlier; — suppose slie was the only one of all the flock here that would like us well enough to permit certain familiarities which are evidently not unfashion- able here, and that we should have a hankering for somebody else, and, at last, that somebody else should reciprocate our hankering ; — would it then be neces- sary for us to dodge around slyly to obtain interviews whereby and wherefore certain objects might be ac- complished, providing such was our desire ? or would it be considered all right to boldly enter in upon and take possession of? In other words, would the bro- ther more immediately interested be angry upon find- ing a stray rabbit in his trap ? ' " ^ Oh, no ; this is all in accordance with that great love. Here, no brother can wrong a brother by being familiar with any of the sisters. Nor does a sister wrong any brother by being familiar with another. There are times and places and opportunities continu- ally presenting themselves, and those who see fit to love, caress, show affection, &c., have no one to inter- fere with them.' " ^ Suppose a man and woman here thrown to- gether become attached to each other, as they do out- side of this Community ; after being together more or less, they think they are indispensable to each other's happiness. Suppose they become heretical, so to speak — the man thinks he loves that woman more than any and all others ; and the woman, in returning this affection for him, learning, as women will, if they are good and virtuous, to look with a certain degree of indifference or loathing upon the attention of oth AND ITS VOTARIES. 191 ers ; — and suppose the man becomes absorbed in Lis love for this one woman, and that the woman is only happy when with that man ; — suppose these two find their lives running into each other, thinking alike, desiring alike, having the same passions, the same warmth of blood and generosity of touch and senti- ment — a disposition to live for, by, of, and unto each other. Do you allow this ? ' " * Well, in our evening meetings, when we all assemble as a family, we should criticise their conduct, point to the evil of th^ir ways, question the genuine- ness of their religion, and, if they persisted in living in violation of our faith, drawing themselves so close- ly together as to attract the attention of the Commu- nity, thinking more of each other and the gratification of their love, desires, passions, &c., than of Christ, we should say to them they had better go, for they were not of us ; and we should not want them with us, harmony being necessary to complete success.' ** ^ Then you have no constancy here other than your religion ; every thing is subservient to that ? You put up goods, manufacture cei'tain articles, sell- ing them to the best advantage, and you enjoy your- selves, when comes the hour of relaxation, as inclina- tion suggests or dictates.' " * Yes, we live here as brothers and sisters — all alike. What belongs to one, belongs to all. As brothers and sisters think it no harm to kiss each other promiscuously, so do we think it no harm nor sin to confer happiness whenever, wherever, and by whatever means we can, to those of our own Com- 192 FREE LOVE iminity. And tLe women consider that we are doing them honor in showing them the attentions you hint at and openly speak of.' " * Do you room apart — the men here and women there — or domicile together ? ' "/ Oh, that is as it happens. Some of the women sleep in this part of the house, and some in that ; some of the men here, and some there. We have our rooms, of course, but all are cared for alike ; and if one man happens to be found in another man's room, or vice-versd, there are no hard feelings ; it is all right.' " ^ We presume you have keys upon the door, so that a man would not be disturbed in his devotions ? And, of course, you would not tolerate the breaking of locks ■? ' " ^ Yes, our doors have locks.' " * Suppose we get our eye upon one that just suits us, and discover that she is your " mother," or another gentleman's " mother," and, when we invite her to come around to 143, she says, " Shoo, ily ! excuse me ; I am engaged for this evening." That's what we want to know — Low you fix this thing.' " ^ Well, the love of Christ so fills our hearts, that we do not want what another has ; and if we did want it, it is all right that we should have it.' " AND ITS VOTARIES. 193 CHAPTER Xm. THE PECULIAB INSTITUTION. The Oneida Community Founded in Lust. — Free Love necessitates Unnatural Practices. — Noycs' Theory of the Sexual Relation. — Blasphemous Views concerning it. — He Claims that it is a Religious Duty to be an Adulterer. — His Doctrine of Male Continence.— What it is.— A Scientific View of the Case. — It is a Filthy, Degrading, and Unhealthy Practice. — Effects of Male Continence in the World. — How Physicians regard the Practice. — Views of Dr. Bergeret. — Startling Facts. — A Case in Point. — Noyes' Statements not True. — They are Opposed by Science and Religion. — Moral View of the Case. — Its Effects upon Individuals and upon Society. — Confessions of the Saints. — The Onei5a Community and its Practices Condemned by Reason, by Science, and by the Law of the Land. — A Vast Brothel. I TAKE ihe "broad ground, that, in spite of all the- guise and affectation of religion, tlie Oneida Commu- nity is founded in lust. It is the promiscuous inter- course of the sexes, the utter freedom which is given to the passions, that makes it so attractive to its mem- ters. We have shown how unnatural is its method of yoking youth and age, and of forcing young peo- ple into vice before they are physically prepared for it ; and it now remains to show how grossly Nature is perverted in that which is the chief end of their asso- ciation — the intercourse of the sexes. " Sexual freedom in the Community," says Noyes, ' "is subject to the general restriction prescribed by the 13 19-^ FREE LOVE doctrine of * Male Continence ; ' i, e., all men are ex- pected to make it a point of honor to refrain from tlie propagative part of sexual intercourse, except wlien propagation is intended and provided for by due con- sultation with the Community and with the other party concerned. This practice," he adds, " does not seek to prevent the natural effect of the propagative act, but to prevent the propagative act itself, except when it is intended to be eflPectual." This, then, is the doctrine of male continence — that a man may in- dulge in sexual intercourse up to and as far as the emission of the seed, but that that must be and can be prevented. That is, that, under the cover of re- ligion and science, a man must degrade into inexpres- sible filthiness an act which Nature designs shall be complete, fit is a filthy, vicious doctrine, a disgusting, degrading, and unhealthy practice. 1 The following are some of the arguments by which Noyes defends his theory and practice : " The restoration of true relations between the sexes is a matter second in importance only to the reconciliation of man to God. The distinction of male and female is that which makes man the image of God ; i. e., the image of the Father and the Son. The relation of male and female was the first social relation. It is therefore, the root of all other social relations. The derangement of this relation was the first result of the original breach with God. Adam and Eve were, at the beginning, in open, fearless, spiritual fellowship, first with God, and secondly with each other. Their transgression produced two corre- AND ITS VOTARIES. 195 sponding alienations, viz., first, an alienation from God, indicated by their fear of meeting Him and tlieir hiding themselves among the trees of the Garden; and secondly, an alienation from each other, indicated by their shame at their nakedness and their hiding themselves from each other by clothing. These were the two great manifestations of original sin — the only manifestations presented to notice in the record of the apostasy. The first thing, then, to be done, in an attempt to redeem man and reorganize society, is to bring about reconciliation with God ; and the second thing is, to bring about a true union of the sexes. . . . " Dividing the sexual relation into two branches, the amative and propagative, the amative or love-rela- tion is first in importance, as it is in the order of Na- ture. God made woman because ^ he saw it was not good for man to be alone ; ' i, d, for social, not pri- marily for propagative pui'poses. Eve was called Adam's * help-meet.' In the whole of the specific account of the creation of woman, she is regarded as his companion, and her maternal office is not brought into view. Amativeness was necessarily the first social affection developed in the Garden of Eden. The second commandment of the eternal law of love, ^Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' had ama- tiveness for its first channel ; for Eve was at first Adam's only neighbor. Propagation, and the affec- tions connected with it, did not commence their opera- tion during the period of innocence. After the Fall God said to the woman, ' I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; ' from which it is to be 196 FREE LOVE inferred that, in the original state, conception would have been comparatively infrequent " The amative part of the sexual relation, separate from the propagative, is eminently favorable to life. It is not a source of life (as some would make it), but it is the first and best distributive of life. Adam and Eve, in their original state, derived their life from God. As God is a dual being, the Father and the Son, and man was made in His image, a dual life passed from God to man. Adam was the channel specially of the life of the Father, and Eve of the life of the Son. Amativeness was the natural agency of the distribution and mutual action of these two forms of life. In this primitive position of the sexes (which is their normal position in Christ), each reflects upon the other the love of God ; each excites and develops the divine action in the other. " The propagative part of the sexual relation is, in its nature, the expensive department. 1. While ama- tiveness keeps the capital stock of life circulating be- tween the two, propagation introduces a third partner. 2. The propagative act is a drain on the life of man, and, when habitual, produces disease. 3. The infirm- ities and vital expenses of woman during the long period of pregnancy waste her constitution. 4. The awfal agonies of childbirth heavily tax the life of woman. 5. The cares of the nursing-period bear heavily on woman. 6. The cares of both parents, through the period of the childhood of their ojffspring, are many and burdensome. T. The labor of man is greatly increased by the necessity of providing for AND ITS VOTARIES. 197 children. A portion of these expenses would un- doubtedly have been curtailed, it* human nature had remained in its original integrity, and will be, when it is restored. But it is still self-evident that the birth of children, viewed either as a vital or me- chanical operation, is, in its nature, expensive ; and the fact that multiplied conception was imposed as a curse, indicates that it was so regarded by the Cre- ator. "The amative and propagative functions are dis- tinct from each other, and may be separated practical- ly. They are confounded in the world, both in the theories of physiologists and in universal practice. The amative function is regarded merely as a bait to the propagative, and is merged in it. But if amai- tiveness is, as we have seen, the first and noblest of the social affections, and if the propagative part of the sexual relation was originally secondary, and became paramount by the subversion of order in the Fall, we are bound to raise the amative office of the sexual organs into a distinct and paramount func- tion." I should gladly pass over this " peculiar institu- tion " of the Saints, but for the fact that they have industriously exerted themselves to spread a knowl- edge of their filthy practice throughout the country, and claim to have succeeded in inducing a number of persons to adopt it. Noyes, in a recent number of the Circular J even goes so far as to call on his disci- ples in this filthy art to testify to its benefits. The following is his card : 198 free love "facts wanted. "A medical writer in New York city has under- taken to point out the limitations of our method of controlling propagation. He admits that male conti- nence may be feasible and useful in a Community, but insists that it cannot be practised with satisfactory residts in ordinary married life. Considerable expe- rience tending to a different conclusion from this has fallen in our way during the last twenty-five years. In the first place, we discovered the principle of Male Continence, and practised it ourselves with excellent results, before the formation of our Community. Also other members of the Oneida Community had similar experience before they joined the Community. Moreover, we have received many communications from persons in common society, testifying of the benefits they have received from the practice of male continence. Still, our opinions on this point are not so fixed that they would not readily yield to well- authenticated adverse facts. , But we canjiot help sus- pecting that a medical parish in ISTew York city is not the best place for testing such a matter. We want to hear from the country folks, the healthy folks, and especially the folks that have some faith in God. . We judge that the parish of the Circular may be a better field to look for facts in. Our writings on male conti- nence are in the hands of many of our subscribers. There must be much interesting experience among them. We invite them to report. Their communica- tions shall be treated as confidential, unless they give express consent to their publication. Let us hear AND ITS VOTARIES. 199 from them, what they have experienced, and also what they have heard from others, in relation to male conti- nence — its feasibility, its effects on men, its effects on women, &c., &c. When we get facts enough for a safe induction, perhaps we shall put them in a book. " J. H. K" Science has done much of late years to throw light upon the subject of the intercourse of the sexes, which has hitherto presented, and which even now presents, so many perplexing questions for solution ; and the result of the most intelligent observations is to establish the fact that incomplete intercourse of any kind is unnatural, vicious, and full of dangerous con- sequences to both parties, especially to the female. Prevention of conception, in whatever form it may be practised, has come to be regarded by modern science as a violation of Nature's laws, sure to meet its just punishment sooner or later. Prevention, indeed, has its rise in a vicious motive. People practise it for no other reason than to enable them to enjoy the pleas- ures of sexual intercourse, and avoid its responsibili- ties. Licentiousness is at the bottom of the matter in the world, and there can be no other foundation for it in the Oneida Community. The Saints wish to enjoy their women and be free from the cares and responsi- bilities of paternity. Therefore they have adopted this practice. It is very easy for Noyes to endeavor to call it a religious duty. Of all religions known to history, that described in* the Mosaic books is the most careful of the bodily health and vigor of its dis- 200 FREE LOVE ciples ; and it is not to be tliouglit tLat tlie same God would sanction a practice utterly destructive of His fnoblest work. The plea that the practice is more merciful to woman, is equally shallow. Modern sci- ence has established beyond all doubt the fact that maternity is the healthiest and best condition of the female system ; and so much has been done, by the proper use of anaesthetics, to alleviate the pangs of childbirth, that they are not to be dreaded by any woman as either so terribly agonizing or exhausting. But even if this were not so — if this ordeal of giving life to a human being were still a " heavy cross," it is both healthier and more merciful to a woman than are the results of any form of prevention, not even ex- L cepting that of male continence. No reputable physician will hesitate to class male continence, as Noyes calls it, amongst the most repre- hensible forms of prevention. It is one of the gross- est violations of the law of Nature known to men, and is not by any means the invention of Noyes. It has been known and practised in Euroj^e, especially in those countries inhabited by the Latin race, for centu- ries, and is held by the physicians of France in espe- cial odium because of its disastrous effects upon the man. Prevention of all kinds is injurious to both parties, but, as a rule, its evil effects manifest them- selves sooner in woman than in man, and in a more aggravated form. This is not surprising. The part of the man is very simple, and of very short duration in the great act of generation. That of the woman,, on the contrary, is complex ; her organs must operate AND ITS VOTARIES. 201 for a long period ; Nature must consequently have provided them with a special vitality and a peculiar aptitude. If this vitality and aptitude are disturbed by imprudent practices, is it astonishing that the most severe disorders result ? It would require more space than I can devote to it to descnbe to the reader the injurious effects of prevention upon a woman's system. They are numerous and terrible. Those whose con- sciences or desire for information may lead them to investigate the subject, need only to consult any repu- table physician. No man loving truth and the honor of his profession will dispute my words. The writ- ings of Dr. Storer, and other leading practitioners of our own country, are full of warnings upon this point ; but the most practical work that has yet come to my knowledge is a simple recital of cases which have come under the observation of Dr. L. F. E. Ber- geret, Physician-in-Chief of the Arbois Hospital, in France. It is entitled, Dea Fraudes dans VAccom- plissement des Fonctions GenSatrices, and is pub- lished in Paris. Dr. Bergeret mentions amongst the most common results in the woman of incomplete sex- ual intercourse, such terrible disorders as the follow- ing : Acute metritis, chronic metritis, leucorrhoea, mo- norrhagia, metrorhagia, haematocele, fibrous tumors, polypi, uterine hyperaesthesia, hysteralgia, uterine col- ics and neuroses, neuralgias, mammary congestion, uterine cancer, diseases of the ovaries, and sterility. A breaking-down of the nervous system, derange- ments of the circulation, of the organs of respiration, and of the digestive system, are common penalties 202 FREE LOVE meted out to "botii parties. In the man, tlie evils are of slower growth, but quite as bad. Besides the affections of the nervous system, and the diseases of the respiratory and digestive organs, we may mention urethritis, diseases of the prostrate, and impotence, as the consequences of this vicious practice. Among the various cases reported by Dr. Bergeret, is one bearing directly upon the doctrine of " male continence." It is, in fact, a record of the bad effects of that practice upon one of its votaries. The Doctor describes it as follows : " Case lxxh. — Man aged forty-nine. He is very nervous and very intelligent. Wealthy, and having the most ardent passions, he gave himself up to great excesses with women. But, as he says himself, he has ruined Ms nerves with them in this respect ; tliat^ in sexual intercourse J lie much preferred the preliminaries to the conclusion I — it was his own expression. He meantj that he never consummated the generative act^ and sought^ above all, those refinements of debauchery in which duration is extended as much as possible, and which exhaust the nervous system much more than reg- ular coition. At this time this man is in the highest degree neuropathic and hypermaniac, because all the physicians whom he has consulted have forbidden him indulgence with women ; and, thus placed between the passion which constantly pursues him and the fear of seriously injuring his health, he finds himself, with his immense wealth, the most unfortunate of men. Ideas of suicide often come to his mind. In the mid- AND ITS VOTARIES. 203 die of liis wakeful nights the evil spirit of luxury tor- ments him with its most terrible attacks. Then he rushes about the house like a madman, and comes early in the morning to ask me, almost with tears in his eyes, if I can allow him a woman only once a week ! Nervous disorders are not always so numer- ous as in the preceding observations. They stop sometimes at a simple depression of the nervous sys- tem, like that which often follows non-fraudulent con- nections. But the nervous prostration must be gen- erally greater after fraudulent coition, because the nervous system is more excited and the action longer." This much is sufficient to show the estimation in which this practice of " male continence," and all other similar habits, are regarded by science. I have dwelt upon the topic here, because it is certain that this book will fall into the hands of many whose minds have been poisoned with Noyes^ pernicious pamphlet in explanation and defence of his filthy practice. The writer has, of course, no hope of influ- encing the Saints of Oneida, who are too thoroughly given over to debauchery to listen to reason on the subject. They mean to enjoy their lusts and avoid childbearing in their women ; and, as they have not scrupled to pervert Nature in every thing connected with the relation of the sexes, so they will persist in their filthy and unnatural acts in this respect, until they pay the penalty. I am aware that Noyes has declared that the prac- tice, so far from being destructive of health among his followers, has been promotive of it. Concerning the 204 FREE LOVE * women of tlie Community lie says : " Our women, as a body, are a great deal healthier than they were be- fore they joined the Community, and healthier than any average lot of the same number in the world." This is merely Mr. Noyes' statement, and, as he is the author of the doctrine he seeks to defend by such an assertion, it goes for nothing. We are fully warrant- ed in doubting it. Science has established the facts, that, in the world, prevention and incomplete intercourse are de- structive of health to both man and woman. 'No reputable physician would give his sanction to the practice of " male continence " by any of his patients. His knowledge of the evil consequences of the act, and his professional obligations, would oblige him to warn such patient against the practice. Now, if this be true in the world, how can the reverse be true in the Community ? The Oneida. Saints are mere men and women, made like ourselves, and subject to the same natural laws. They cannot violate those laws with more impunity than is accorded to the Gentile world. Now we have their own confession, that their prac- tice is to violate Nature's laws in sexual intercourse — to do that which, in the world, is followed by such terrible physical penalties. Noyes claims that this practice is healthful, and attended with the most fa- vorable results. What shall we believe — that Nature acts in one way in the world and in another in the Community ? — that a woman in the Community can have her health built up and improved by that which, AND ITS VOTARIES. 205 in the world, would bring lier to her grave ? Shall we not rather believe that the Saints have not made a truthful statement of the case, and that their repre- sentations upon this point are meant merely to cover up their filthy practices ? They have every means of concealing the truth, and we may be sure that, so long as it is to their interest to suppress it, they will do so. In leaving this subject, I desire to lay before the reader the following views of Dr. Bergeret concerning the moral consequences of incomplete or fraudulent intercourse, or, in other words, of " male conti- nence " : " Fraudulent practices greatly favor libertinism. " He who would not seduce a woman under the condition of having regular connections, which might entail the embarrassment of a pregnancy, will not hesitate, if he be expert in frauds, to carry seduction to its furthest limits, minus conception. The practice of sexual frauds is, therefore, one of the greatest in- ducements to dissipation. The picture of the evils generated by these frauds ought, then, to banish them, and to favor legitimate and regular connections. It is a great lesson of moral and social hygiene. . . . " The practice of frauds demoralizes very much by developing the taste and habit of sexual voluptuous- ness. The junction of the sexes becomes nothing more than the satisfying of a concupiscence, or an obscene lubricity, instead of the union to which Na- ture invites us by the attraction of pleasure, and which must have for its consequence, pregnancy ; that 206 FREE LOVE is to say, a condition calculated to awake in tlie heart the most serious and sweetest preoccupations. " The practice of frauds incites in the woman hab- its of voluptuousness, which lead her into adultery. Besides, how can a husband be inclined to respect a lascivious woman ? . . . The girl whom a lover renders lascivious by the habitual employment of frauds, is easily led to debasement, to prostitution, to infamy. . . . " The practice of frauds, being a serious violation of one of the most sacred laws of Nature, blunts the moral sense of those who are given to it, and makes them less scrupulous to commit other offences. The records of criminal law show that the greatest crimi- nals have for their accomplices concubines, with whom they very rarely have children, because the}^ make use of sexual frauds." Judged by this light, what shaU we say of a Com- munity whose social structure is based upon sexual fraud ? • Yet this species of fraudulent intercourse, Noyes has the audacity to declare, " will sooner or later be known to be a very different affair from that kind of sexual commerce against which all criminal statutes are directed." The true meaning of this is, that, in the opinion of the Free Lovers at Oneida, a man may debauch a woman, outrage law. Nature, and common decency, and yet, if he does not produce impregnation in so doing, he is not guilty of adultery. To follow the guidance of Nature, is sinful ; to pervert Nature, is holy. This is the Oneida doctrine reduced to plain AND ITS VOTARIES. 207 English. It is infamous, but we cannot be surprised at it ; for it is natural that people living under tlie ban of society and of tbe civil and Christian law, and in the daily practice of filth, should resort to any thing for the purpose of defending their vile acts. Were the laws of the State of New York enforced against these people, they would soon discover to their cost that, whatever the future may bring forth, at present they are living in what that law denounces as a state of open adultery. 208 FREE LOVE CHAPTER XIV. THE WOMAN QUESTION. Position of Woman in the Community. — Claims of the Saints. — No " Ladies " in the Community. — The Sliort Dress. — What the Saints Think of it. — Appear- ance of the Women. — They are Coarse, Unrefined, Unhealthy-Looking, and Vulgar, — Effects of " Male Continence/' — True Position of these Women. — The System of Complex Marriage Denied by the Civil Law and by Re- ligion. — Wives, yet not Married. — Immoral from Choice. — These Women are Prostitutes, and Live in a state of Adultery with their Male Compan- ions. — No Modest Women in the Community. — Virtue at a Discount. — Absence of Shame. — Filthy Conversations. — Reasons why the Women can- not Leave the Place. — How the World regards them. — They are utterly Lost to Virtue. — The Oneida Community Women Tried by Solomon's Stand- ard. — A Frightful Condition of Affairs. — Women Sunk in Degradation. — The Duty of every Honest Man to Denounce the Free-Love System. The Community claim tliafc woman enjoys in tlieir midst a position very mucli superior to that whicli she holds in the world without. " The result of the com- plex system," says Noyes, " we may sum up by saying that the men are rendered more courteous, women more winning, children are better born, and both sexes are personally free." Thia is a mere boast, un- supported by facts — indeed, utterly untrue. There are about one hundred women, more or less, in the Community. Some are old, others young. It needs only a glance to tell that they come from the AND ITS VOTARIES. 209 humblest walks of life. They are coarse-looking, and, to our mind, lacking in refinement. In short, they cannot be called "ladies," in the conventional sense of that term. They are simply working-women. The dress adopted by them is peculiar. It may be made of any material and of any color, though brown and blue for out-door wear, white for evening in the meeting-room, are the prevailing tints. Muslin, cotton, and a coarse silk, supply the materials. The hair is cut short and parted down the centre, and I noticed that some of the ladies wore short side-combs. No stays, no crinoline, are allowed. The dress is pe- culiar, and it requires a decidedly pretty woman to look well in it. The majority, being any thing but pretty, are rendered simply ridiculous by it. It con- sists of a tunic falling to the knee, loose trowsers of the same material, a vest buttoning high towards the throat, short hanging sleeves, and a straw hat. At a distance, it is impossible to tell the sex of the wearer. The Saints take great pride in this dress, which they consider the perfection of womanly adornment. " The short dress," says The Circular^ " was adopted by the women of the Community twenty years ago, very soon after its organization at Oneida, and, so far as we know, the fashion originated with us. Its ad- vantages over the long skirts are, first, health ; second^ comfort ; third, convenience ; and these advantages we prefer to the blind and unreasonable dictates of fash- ion. The costume is thought by some to be deficient in grace ; but we are contented with Greenough's principle, that the beautiful is to be found in the use^ 14 210 FREE LOVE ful. Prejudice too frequently disables the judgment, especially in this matter of women's dress. A day's observation only, sometimes reverses previous impres- sions. We had a visitor of taste, a few days since, whose first exclamation at the short skirts was any thing but complimentary. On the second day he en- tered in his note-book the following memorandum : * More reconciled to the short dress.' He admitted, frankly, that for us it was just the thing. This is all we claim. '' We have studied economy, as well as health and convenience, in this mode of dress. Several yards less cloth suffice than would be necessary to make the long skirt. Of course, the weight is proportionately less. Its advantage over the fashionable long skirts for going up and down stairs, getting in and out of car- riages, walking, rambling over the farm, and taking part with men in light out-of door work, as is some- times desirable, is obvious to all." Various opinions are entertained by visitors con- cerning this dress. Some express strong approval of it, among whom is Mr. Hep worth Dixon. It appeared to me neither graceful nor attractive, its only merit in my eyes being that it seemed to render its wearers less liable to injury from accidents from the machinery of the silk-works than the ordinary flowing skirt. The women seemed to me not only coarse and lacking in refinement, but there was about them a peculiar air of unhealthiness, for which I could not account until I understood their doctrine of " male continence." It will need but a casual glance to con- AND ITS VOTARIES. 211 vince a pLysician that they ai^e not as sound and vig- orous as they would have us believe. The sigps of sexual excess seemed to me to be written in their faces as plainly as it was in the countenances of the men. The eyes were heavy and dull, the expression of the entire face was one of fatigue, and there was a sensual, gross look about the mouth. Never have I seen lustfulness written so plainly on the human face as at this Community. This remark applies to both sexes, especially to the male. I did not see one really intellectual countenance, with the exception of the faces of Noyes and Hamilton, and one or two others, in the whole Community. Neither did I find that delicacy and modesty, that fair womanliness, in the appearance of the female Saints, that was so apparent in the girls from Oneida employed in the silk-works. I did not expect to meet with any of the higher and nobler attribute^ of womanhood in a place like this ; but I came away more than ever thankful that those women I know and honor in the world are not like these female Saints. You may go into any of the better-class houses of prostitution in our great cities, and find women of far more attractiveness, of greater outward modesty, and of higher mental culture. The position of these women is singular, to say the least. They are not married, and yet they are wives. Their system of complex marriage amounts to nothing. Marriage in the United States, and in each and every State, is a civil institution. The law recognizes only such unions as are contracted in ac- cordance with it. In a legal sense, Mrs. Noyes is the 212 FREE LOVE only wife of John Humphrey Noyes. All the other ninety-nine women are simply his mistresses. He dares not claim them as lawful wives. The punish- ment for bigamy stares him in the face. No woman has a legal claim on him, or on any other member of the Community. She has prostituted herself in the eyes of the law. She is merely living in adultery with her partner in guilt. Christianity brands these unions as sinful, and fully sustains the position of the law. It matters not that Noyes and his followers call this state of affairs their religion. They might as well offer human sacrifices, and claim to be guiltless of murder. The same law that says, " Thou shalt not kill," says also, " Thou shalt not commit adultery." The fundamental points of the civil and Divine law are too well established for any man to set up his in- dividual judgment against them. It matters not how vehemently these Oneida Perfectionists may 'protest their sincerity, their religious convictions. We judge men by one standard in questions of virtue and mo- rality. There can be but one standard for such things. Judged by this standard, they are either lunatics or knaves. The shrewdness with which they conduct their temporal affairs forbids the first conclu- sion ; and we have no escape from the opinion that ^they are immoral from choice. The women of the Community, then, judged by the laws of every civilized nation, and by the pre- cepts of the Christian religion, are simply living in adultery with the men. They are not wives — they are simply mistresses ; and it must be plain to every AND ITS VOTARIES. 213 reader of these pages, that no pure-minded^ high-toned woman, even if such a woman could at heart be con- vinced that the act was sinless, would live in a state which Christianity and law brand as adulterous. Yet the Saints impudently tell us that these women are better, purer, nobler, happier, freer, than the pure women around us whom we call wives, mothers, daughters, sisters. In reply to this, I need only say that, in the eyes of religion and law, the women of the Oneida Community, and the poor wretches who ply their infamous trade on Broadway under the cover of the night, stand on the same level. Both are lewd women ; both have prostituted their bodies. We have spoken of the wqmen of the Community as lacking in modesty. What else could be the result of such a system ? Can a woman take one hundred men to her arms, granting to each and all the same favors, and retain her modesty? Can she be pure, when she permits herself to indulge in promiscuous intercourse with any number of men ? Can she be modest, when she has no sense of shame ? Shame, in- deed, is discouraged at the Community, or rather, it is entirely abolished. *' Sexual shame," says Noyes, " was the consequence of the Fall, and is factitious and irrational. Adam and Eve, while innocent, had no shame ; little children have none ; other animals have none." Shame is inconsistent with perfection ; there is no occasion for it in a Community where eveiy member is holy. Therefore it is banished from Oneida. A very convenient arrangement, truly ! for, did shame exist here, it is probable the Community 214 FREE LOVE would soon fall to pieces. The abolition of tliis feel- ing relieves them from an immense amount of mortifi- cation and discomfort vrhicli they would otherwise experience. But, heavens ! what a commentary is this upon the Community! A couple of hundred men and women utterly without shame ! What need of argument is there after such a confession ? Is it possible, reader, to find anywhere on earth one hun- dred pure women who are shameless ? The filthiness of the conversation these women are required to engage in passes description. Nothing is considered too impure for general discussion in the family-hall. Topics which outrage all decency are dis- cussed by the sexes without reserve. Nothing is too gross, too impure; and the women exhibit, in their discussion, an adeptness — a profundity, I might almost say — which is simply appalling. There is not a first- class brothel in the land where such conversations would be allowed. Yet it is proper and popular here. Doubtless it is an essential part of the system of moral degradation to which these women are sub- jected. Woman is in her true position here, say the Saints. Alas for humanity, if this be true ! I have shown how she is forced, by the inhuman system which pre- vails here, into licentiousness at her tenderest age, when she is morally and physically incapable of re- sistance to the arts of her seducer ; how she is sacri- ficed to the lusts of an old libertine ; how she is de- frauded by a system which offers no gratification to her maternal instincts, but merely trains her in vice. AND ITS VOTARIES. 21S and how she is forced into the position of a prosti- tute. If this be her true position, let us thank God that the world keeps her from reaching it. " But," it is urged, " if the women are in such a deplorable state in this Community, why do not they go back to their friends, or out into the world, to seek a livelihood ? " In what character could a woman of this Community go back to the world ? Could she go as one whose fair fame is untarnished — as the com- panion and equal of virtuous wives and pure maid- ens ? Does not the world regard her as a woman lost to virtue — as an adulteress ? Is not this the position in which she is placed? She knows this, and knows that her friends will never take her back as their equal ; that the world will never jreceive her as a pure woman. If she goes out from the Community, she must go as an applicant for pardon from that God whose laws she has violated — from society, whose best instincts she has outraged. She must go back as a penitent Magdalen, and. she knows it. Few women, once sunk in vice, especially in vice which has so many allurements, have the moral courage to seek to change their lives. A woman's purity of character is her strongest defence ; but when once destroyed, how hard it is to recover it. It is most eifectually de- stroyed by " complex marriage." The truth is, these women have lost their moral instincts, and are incapa- ble of distinguishing between virtue and vice. They have lost the desire to reform. Noyes' pernicious teachings have effectually ruined them. They are utterly poisoned in heart and soul. If, in the few mo- 216 FREE LOVE ments of reflection wHch must come to tliem as to others, they feel longings for a better, a higher life, they are crushed "back by the reflection that it is too late. What sadder fate could befall a woman than this — not only to live in open shamelessness, but to out- rage religion and morality by calling it holiness and perfection ? The lowest street-walker dares not de- fend her vile trade, and would gladly rise above it if she could. These women, equally guilty, glory in their sin, in their impurity, and call upon their sex to follow their example. There is no chance here for a woman to exhibit her highest and best qualities. She is the mistress of scores of men, any of whom may use her at wilL Her baser instincts are carefully cultivated, and her higher feelings as cunningly blunted and destroyed. Except in rare instances, she is denied the joys of ma- ternity. She is denied the dignity of a wife. 'No pure, ennobling love can fill her breast, for it cannot fasten upon any one object. That sweet, tender devo- tion with which woman clings, through good and ill, to the object of her affection, can have no place in the hearts of these Saints. .Whatever Noy^s may say to the contrary, it has been proved, by the experience of sixty centuries, that the heart can love truly but one object at a time. Pure conjugal love is the spontane- ous, irresistible intermingling of two pure hearts — not of two hundred vicious ones — and cannot be regu- lated by science. It is as high, above science as the sun above the astronomer's telescope. It has done too AND ITS VOTARIES. 217 mucL to ennoble the human race, to raise it above the level of the brute creation, to fear the assaults of im- pure desires. There will always be persons whose filthy imaginations will seek to degrade it ; but such assaults always recoil from it upon the attacking party. Ages ago, the wisest of men drew the most ex- quisite picture of a virtuous wife the world has ever seen, and each succeeding generation has testified to its truthfulness. ' The higher woman has risen in the social scale, the more lifelike has this matchless crea- tion seemed. " Her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. " She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. " Her husband is known in the gates, when he sit- teth among the elders of the land. " Strength and honor ai^e her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. " Her children rise up, and call her blessed : her husband also, and he praiseth her. ^^ Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." Were all women like the female Saints at Oneida, who would come up to this standard ? It is natural that these people should denounce the laws they have violated. Every lewd woman has a poor opinion of female virtue ; just as every thief thinks any man would steal if subjected to his temp- 218 FEEE LOVE tations ; but it was reserved for these Saints to hold themselves up as examples to their fellow-creatures, to denounce the laws they have violated as sinful, and declare their abominable filth a state of holiness. The most hardened criminal acknowledges the justice of the laws under which he sujffers, and does not dare to call his punishment a persecution. These filthy- Saints do not hesitate to do this. They have out- raged all virtue, religion, and decency, and blasphe- mously tell us that they are holy. They have not only dared to do this, but, when public opinion indig- nantly denounces their abominable practices, they cry out, " Persecution ! " People must be judged by their deeds, not by their professions. "By their fruits shall ye know them," is an infallible test. Noyes and his followers call their blasphemous utterances and filthy practices the only true Christian religion. But I have shown that they have outraged every form of Christianity. There is a point at which liberality in matters of re- ligion must cease ; and the Saints of Oneida have passed this point. Therefore it becomes the duty of every Christian man to denounce their practices. There are differences enough among the Christian sects, God knows ; but all present a solid front against the teachings and doings of these people. We cannot allow their claim to the dignity of a religious sect Eeligion is purity. Bible Communism is filth. Ke- ligion is morality. Bible Communism is immorality. Neither can we allow the doctrine of complex mar- riage. Judged by every test known to the religion AND ITS VOTARIES. 219 of Jesus Christ, it is a state of adultery. Judged by the laws of the land, it is a state of adultery. Judged by science, it is a filthy and unhealthy abomination. When a woman living in this Community says to me, " I am a wife," I ask, " Where is the evidence of it ? Two things only make you a wife : the law of God, and the law of the State in which you live. By neither of these are you married. Both of these laws are plain, and there is no room for doubt in the mat- ter. You have no right to set up your individual opiniop against the sense of the Christian Church in all its branches — against the plain law of the land. Your claim to the dignity of wifehood is disallowed by each and every Christian Church — ^by the moral sentiment of the whole world — ^by the civil law. You are not a wife." And, if not a wife, what posi- tion does a woman occupy who lives in such close relations with a man? She is a harlot. A woman who, clinging to one pure feeling, keeps herself for one lover only, and that from passionate love for him, merits and receives this name. How much more, then, does a woman merit it who makes her person the common property of one hundred men ? There is no help for it. We must either sanction the frightful doctrines and practices of the Community ; we must either lend our aid to break down the cause of moral- ity and virtue, or we must brand the women of the Community as infamous. It is always painful to apply such epithets to women, but there is no altemar tive. The English language is very elastic, but not sufficiently so to allow us to call virtuous a woman 220 FREE LOVE whose mode of life is destructive of virtue. Besides this, it is the duty of every honest man to repudiate the claim of these women to equality with the pure maids and matrons of his own household. AND ITS VOTAEIES. 221 CHAPTER XV. THE JUYENILE SAINTS. The Children of the Community. — How the Little Ones are Cared for. — ^The Mother's Duties.—The Children's Department.— Out-Door Life.—" The Chil- dren's Hour." — Scene in the Upper Sitting-Room. — '• The Evening Talk " with the Children. — Physical Developments. — Statements of Dr. Koyes. — Intellectual Developments. — Statements of Alfred Barron and Portia M. Underhill.— Vital Statistics.— What these Statements are Worth.— The Saints Claim that their Children are Superior to those Born in Lawful Marriage. — This Is not True. — Stirpiculture Inaugurated. — Scientific Breeding. — Noyes on Sterility. — A Ridicvdous Defence. — True State of the Case. — Sad Fate in store for the Children. — They are destined to Lives of Licentiousness. — ^A System of Soul-Murder. With all their immorality, witli all tteir filtLiness, it must be confessed that the Saints are kind and attentive to the children in their midst. These little ones are bright and healthy in appearance, but not more so than the children in the village of Oneida. Children born in the Community are nursed and cared for by their mothers until the age of fifteen months, when they are weaned, and placed in the care of the children's department, where they remain until the age of puberty is reached. During the period of nursing, the mother devotes herself to the care of the child as much as she pleases, and, if she desires it, has an assistant. "When the child is placed in the chil- dren's department, the mother takes her turn there as 222 FREE LOVE assistant, and is relieved by other sisters at tlie expi- ration of a certain period. Tlie nursery, or children's department, is separate from the main household, and is provided with every thing necessary to the comfort of the little folks ; for, in respect to their bodily wants, the Saints are most kind and thoughtful. It is in charge of men and women selected for their skill in the management of children. The smallest children eat in the nursery at a table by themselves. The rest eat at the general table with the family. All attend school, and are taught the rudiments of an English education. One feature of the life of these children is the great amount of out-door exercise permitted them. The Saints believe in a plenty of fresh air for the little ones ; and it is not surprising that, in this fine, healthy country, such treatment renders the physician almost unnecessary in the nursery. Out-door sports and games of all kinds are encouraged, and the chil- dren have full liberty to roam, under proper restric- tions, over the entire domain. How much this mode of life has done to counteract the effects of the vicious practices of the parents, I am unable to state, but without doubt it has done very much. The period between six and seven o'clock in the evening is known as " The Children's Hour." Then, all the little ones, some fifty in number, gather in the upper sitting-room, and indulge in games of romps, plays, and songs. It is a pleasant sight — perhaps the pleasantest to be witnessed here. They sing well and enjoy their sports with a heartiness that is really de- AND ITS VOTARIES. 223 lightful. The old people crowd tlie hall to witness these plays, and appear to enjoy them as much as the children. When the games are played and the songs sung, some member places his chair in the centre of the floor, and, gathering the little ones around him, relates a story for their amusement. They love the tales of the marvellous, the fortuitous, the lucky, the retributive, or, in other words, just such narratives as are the delight of children the world over. Many of these " talks," as the Saints call them, are religious in their nature. The following is an outline of one of them, as sketched in The Circular : " We have talked with 'you, children, a great deal about God. You know how to pray to Him and seek Him in your hearts, and you have learned to watch for His providences. Well, it is necessary you should be taught something about another character that we read about in the Bible — that wicked being, called the devil, so that you may learn to beware of him and resist him, as much as you love God. You heard the story of Job the other evening, and recollect how the devil presented himself before the Lord. The Lord said to him, * Satan, whence com est thou ? ' Do you remember Satan's answer? He said, ^ From going to and fro in the earthy and walking up and down in it^ Here we get a clue to the devil's charac- ter. He is a restless^ wandering^ discontented spirit ; he has no home. He seeks happiness in going from place to place. He wants some outward excitement. He wants to be diverted all the time. He never ^ goes home,' as we call it, to find happiness in his 224 FREE LOVE own Learfc. He is never quiet. There are other pas- sages in the Bible which give this same description of the devil. Christ says, * When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and finding none^ Here is Satan again, walking to and fro, restless, discontented, without a home. Then, Peter represents the devil as ^ a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour.' He is not only a wanderer, but 'a devourer. The home- less, wandering spirit tries to devour the good wher- ever it goes. It won't be quiet, and it won't let oth- ers be quiet. Now, children, when you feel restless, when you say, ^ I don't know what to do,' when you want to go somewhere to feel well, you must think that the devil is trying to make you like himself. He is trying to fill you with his own discontented spirit, and you must resist him. The Bible says, ^ Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.' " Concerning the healthfulness of the children, and their physical and mental development, (fee, I give the following statements, taken from The Circular, I have no means of ascertaining their truthfulness, but need hardly remind the reader that they are the state- ments of parties interested in defending the practices of the Community. " The critics of Communism bave to admit that, in money matters and material surroundings, either the blessing of God is upon us, or we are obeying some great law of nature that brings prosperity ; but they say, or insinuate, that, in the deeper and more important matters of propagation and training of chil- AND ITS VOTARIES. 225 dren, Communism shows signs of failure. We take issue witli them on this point. After mature investi- gation and reflection, our belief and affirmation is, that the same blessing of God and prosperous obedi- ence, that is at work in our material enterprises, is manifest in the life and growth of our children. " In our last number we stated some facts in rela- tion to the results of the entire administration of our children's houses for twenty years — that there have been but two deaths there in all that time, and that the graduates of that department are now strong men and women, acquitting themselves well in the busi- ness of the Community and in institutions of learning abroad. We have much more to say and some good stories to tell about the general career of the chil- dren's house and graduates, but, for the present num- ber, will confine ourselves to a survey of that depart- ment as it now stands — a look at the present generar tion of Community children. " As the main dispute between us and the critics is about the vital and intellectual condition of our children, we have thought it best to take an inventory of the health and brains of those now* at the chil- dren's house. The following are ihe results of care- ful inquiries and measurements by T. R. Noyes, M. D. EEPOET OF PHYSICAL EXAJVIESTATIO]^. " The children's house takes children at about the age of sixteen months, and keeps them to the age of eleven or twelve years. Nursing-infants are otherwise provided for. The present number of inmates is 15 226 FREE LOVE twenty-five, of wliom ten are boys and fifteen are girls. " The following tables give the age, height, weight, size of head, and size of chest, of eaeli boy^and girl, by which, physiologists and others, wlio choose to com- pare these statistics with average measurements, may form some judgment of the physical condition of these children. BOYS. Size of Size of Age. 'Weight. Height. Head. Chest. Years. Pounds. Ft. In. Inches. Inches. Clarence 12 l&i 4 10 21 29^ Harley 1 47f 3 11 21 24^ Wilfred 7 46^ 3 10 22 23^ George 6 43^ 3 7f 21 23^ Harold 6 36f 3 6^ 19;^ 2H Temple 5 36^. 3 5^ 20f 21^ Orraond 4 42^ 3 6 21 22f Ransom 3 35f 3 H 20f 22^ Horace 2 29^ 2 10^ 19f 21^ Eugene 2 28^ 2 9 20 21f GIELS. Size of Size of Age. "Weight. Height. Head. Chest. Years. Pounds. Pt. In. Inches. Inches. Lilly 11 '71 4 6 20| 26^ Rose 11 39ir 3 8 20^ 21f Edith •. 10 65i 4 6^ 21^ 26 Leonora 9 55 4 2^ 19| 24 Marion 9 55| 3 llf 2H 25 Mabel 9 64* 4 2i 21| 26^ Emily *? 42 3 7f 19 23^ Theodora 7 45 3 9i .20| 22 Anna 6 43^ 3 Vf 19f 22 Fanny 5 39f 3 7 19| 22^ Cosette 5 34^ 3 6^ • 19|- 22f Lucy 5 37i 3 4f 20^ 22J M^y 4 31i 3 1 19f 21 Virginia 4 31i 3 2^ 20 2H Maud 3 3H 2 llj 19| 22 AND ITS VOTARIES. 227 " Seventeen of these children have been alvrays healthy, or only subject to the ordinary slight illness- es of young persons. Several had the scarlet fever Yihen it ^as prevalent in the neighborhood ; but the seqiielce have been slight. " Five were quite delicate in infancy, but have steadily improved under the care of the department; and are now, in the ordinary sense of the term, healthy children. One of them -has a habit of consti- pation, brought on by bad management soon after birth, but is likely to outgrow it. " Two, that are sisters, inherit diseased tendencies, their mother's family having been very scrofulous. The elder (Rose in the table) was deformed by rachi- tis (rickets) at five years of age, but is now otherwise in good health. The younger has exhibited a tenden- cy to the same disease, but appears to be safely pass- ing the crisis of danger. " One boy (Wilfred in the table) was the off- spring of parents who were both deficient in physical stamina, but bright intellectually. He has shown some tendency to hydrocephalus, but is outgrowing it. He is very ingenious, and bids fair to be a strong, healthy man. " None of these children show any signs of imbe- cility. The only abnormal brain is that of Wilfred, which is a little too large. The only deformity is that of Eose. There are no ^sore eyes' among them, or other chronic local diseases. T. E. ISToyes." " It would be easy here to go into discriminations 228 FREE LOVE that would prove tLat wliat little there is in the above shov^^ing that is unfavorable, is not chargeable to Com- munism. But we ask no favors. Let the critics make the most of the weaknesses reported. There is nothing at all resembling the degeneracy which they wish to make out. It is a cleaner bill of health and brains than they can find in any common neighbor- hood. And now, to complete the testimony, two schoolteachers shall say what they think of the Com- munity children. TESTIMONY OF A SCHOOLMASTEE. " Having noticed that several obscure, not to say foolish and prejudiced, writers for the press, have un- dertaken to disparage the Community, by represent- ing that its children are low-strung and idiotic, I beg to offer testimony that has never beeu in place until now. " 1. I have taught in the common schools of Ver- mont, jN'orth Carolina, Michigan, and also in the schools of the Community, both at Wallingford and Oneida, and having, besides, some smattering of phre- nology, it is reasonable to suppose that I should have some inducements to take the measure of our children by the standards of a schoolmaster. "2. There is not an idiot nor underwit in the Community; and none such were ever born here. And this is more than I can say of any neighborhood in which I have lived previous to joining this Asso- ciation. There was idiocy in the school-district in AND ITS VOTARIES. 229 whicli I was born, and there were cases of idiocy and imbecility in every single neighborhood in which it w^as my fortune to teach. " 3. I have always found that a class of scholars born in the Community was fifty per cent, brighter and more studious than any school I have taught in the world. In my zeal and satisfaction I have often said to myself: ^ These scholars are a hundred per cent, better than any I ever knew in the common schools.' " 4. I am confident that the spirit and discipline of the Community, including, as it does, a hearty and intelligent confession of Christ as an indwelling Sa- viour, has, in the end, an effect to quiet the passions and clear the head, and cannot, if allowed a fair chance, fail to rear children of the most happy tem- peraments. Alfred Baeeo]s^." TESTIMONY of A SCHOOLMISTRESS. " One of the pleasantest occupations of my Com- munity life has been that of a school-teacher. With a previous experience of about four years in the com- mon schools of the world, I could not but contrast the children of the Community with those I had for- merly taught. The majority of my former scholars have ranged from the ages of ^ve to twelve, and among children here of the same age I quickly discov- ered that they were more easily governed ; that they had been tausfht to watch within for the little seeds of discord that spring up and cause unhappiness 230 FREE LOVE among tliem selves ; to love study, not for the sake of emulation and competition, but tliat they might come more into sympathy with God, who knows all things. "For mental ability, I have found them to be rather above the average, particularly those bom in the Community. Many of them possess a knowledge of geography that other persons might envy. The location of places, the points of interest about Mne- veh, Babylon, Rome, and other places, the noted mountains and rivers, and the ocean, with its capes and islands, are knov/n to the Community children not in a dry, mechanical way, but as exciting realities. They will tell you about them with a brightness of expression and earnestness that makes you almost feel they have been there themselves. Living together, they stimulate each other, and create an enthusiasm that makes them studious, and desirous of acquiring knowledge. This is caught by the little ones, who very early show a love for books. They learn their letters among themselves, and, on coming to school, need restraining rather than urging. The wide range of thought in the Community is felt by the children. In general knowledge they are superior to those in the world. Their memories are excellent. A little girl of ten recited a long chapter of ^ Hiawatha ' with- out being prompted a word. They frequently get up little entertainments of music, tableaux, and plays, that are original, and both amusing and edifying. " Teaching here has improved me more than any previous experience. "POETIA M. UnDEEHILL." AND ITS VOTARIES. 231 Two years later (March, 1870), tlie same pap^r giyes the following vital statistics : " Dunglison's Medical Dictionary gives the morrtal- ity under two years of age, in Philadelphia, at 31 per cent, of the total mortality. This is a higher rate than obtains in the country. Mortality from 2 to 15 years of age, 14 per cent. " The United States Census of 1860 gave the fol- lowing rates in ISTew England and 'New York State. They are probably some higher than would be the case in a purely country f)opulation, in consequence of the fact that the returns of the two great cities of New York and Boston are included : Under 2 years of age 25 per cent, of total deaths. Between 2 and 15 years 20 " " From birth to 15 years 45 " " "The population of these States was about 6,000,000. Estimating the population of New York city and Boston at 1,500,000, or one quarter of the total population, and supposing in the city the per- centage of infant mortality in the total deaths to be double that of the country, we must inake a reduction in the mortality of the first class to represent the country mortality of these States. They will then, stand : Under 2 years of age 20 per cent, of total deaths. Between 2 and 15 years. . . , 20 " " Mortality to 15 years 40 " " " Let us now see how this rate of mortality in the 232 FREE LOVE two periods of cLildliood compares with ttat in the Community. " Under 2 years of age (the limit to this period is put at the time when the children pass from the care of their mothers to that of the children's department, which is a little under 2 years of age), the mortality in the twenty-one years of the Community's residence at Oneida has been 16 per cent, of the total deaths in the same time. " Mortality from 2 to 15 years (period during which children are cared for by the Community), 8.8 per cent, of total deaths. This includes a healthy girl who had left the care of the children's department, and was very nearly 15 years of age, who was carried off suddenly by diptitheria, which was prevailing in the neighborhood as an epidemic. If this case were excepted, the mortality in the children's department would be reduced to 6.6 per cent, of the total deaths. " This percentage is caused by the death of two boys at eight years, and one girl afc two. They are the only deaths which have occurred in the children's department, which has cared for a constant average of thirty children for 21 years. The death of the little girj occurred from whooping-cough. She showed a peculiar susceptibility to the dangerous form of the disease, which was evidently inherited, as a relative died in a similar way several years ago. The disease was quite harmless with the other children. "The mortality from birth to 15 years of age, in- cluding both periods, was 24.8 per cent, of the total deaths. Let us recapitulate : u«»f ^i AND ITS VOTARIES. 233 RATIO OF MORTALITY TO TOTAL DEATHS IN TWO PERIODS. First Period. — Under 2 Years of Age. City mortality (Philadelphia) , 31 per cent. Country mortality (New England 4ind New York, exclu- sive of large cities) 20 " Oneida Community mortality 16 " Second Period. — 2 to 15 Years. City mortality (Philadelphia) 14 per cent. Country mortality (New England and New York) 20 " Oneida Community mortality 8.8 " Both Periods. — Prom Birth to 15 Year's.- City mortality (Philadelphia) 45 per cent. Country mortality (New England and New York) 40 " Oneida Community mortality 24.8 " " Witli new buildings in process of erection^ and entering upon an era of scientific propagation, we ex- pect tlie next tweuty years to show still more favor- able results of Community-life." These statistics do not by any means vindicate the theory of the Saints. We are warranted in doubting their fairness, and I do most emphatically deny that the children of the Community are superior to the children of the rest of Madison County. Their phy- sique- is no better, no more vigorous. They are no healthier. They are no brighter, no merrier, no more intelligent, and the best that can be said for them is, that they compare favorably with other children. The forcing system may make them " Solomons at ^ve ; " but let us see if they will not verify the old 234 FREE LOVE adage, and be " fools at thirty/' I by no means ac- cept tlie fact that these little people are crammed with " book-learning," as evidence of their intellectual supe- riority. It is a gross injury done them by the Saints, and one for which Nature will exact a severe penalty. But all the children in the Community are not " natives to the manor born." I made particular in- quiries upon this point, and v/as told that many of them had been brought here by their parents. " For twenty years and more," says ^Noyes, "w^e have re- frained from having children to a great extent, count- ing less than two a year in a population of forty fami- lies." This, he says, was from motives of expediency. Yet the Saints tell us the parental instinct is not smothered here. And this, too, in the face of such a confession, covering an experience of over twenty years. How are we to divStinguish between the chil- dren born on the place, and those brought here after their birth ? Doubtless Mr. Noyes will place the im- ported children in the list of casualties, and tell us that no one native-born has a place there. There is a tacit agreement or understanding between all the Saints, to prevent the world from ascertaining the true state of affairs at the Community. To this end, they do not hesitate to misrepresent facts to visitors, as a careful analysis of many of their statements has convinced the writer. Why, then, shall w^e accept their statistics as authentic ? Of late years the Saints have agreed to relax the severity of their rule of male continence, and have commenced a series of experiments in propagation. AND ITS VOTARIES. 235 In it they have inaugurated a system of Sthyiculture^ or scientific breeding of children. A man and woman are carefully set apart by the votes of the Community for experiments of this kind. They are selected for their superior physical or mental qualities, and having by the practice of male continence been preserved, the one from frequent generation and the other from fre- quent child-bearing, their offspring is expected to be superior to \hQ average child begotten in ordinary life. Though they admit that their efforts have not been crowned with the perfect success for which they ulti- mately hope, they still assert that they have produced children both physically and mentally superior to those born in lawful wedlock. This I deny. I did not see such children at the Community. The best I can say for them is, that they compare favorably with other children. This ability to bear children, Noyes tells us, " casts to the winds the predictions of steril- ity on the part of our women as the result of our social practice." Sterility, Mr. ISToyes, is not the inevi- table result to the woman of fraud. It is merely one of a long train of evils, l^o physician ever contends that frauds must of necessity produce sterility. The result is different in different women. Furthermore, physicians advise pregnancy as a cure of the ills caused by frauds. This proves also, says Noyes, that the men " have not lost their potency by their continence — which last deduction is strengthened by the fact that the fathers in four of these cases are veterans of the first genera- tion, who have practiced male continence longest and 236 FREE LOVE most, while tlie other four fathers are young men of the second generation, who have never known any- other practice." How about the women, Mr. Noyes ? Are they veterans in the practice, too ? I doubt it. They are, most probably, young women whose expe- rience in the filthy art is not of long duration. The fate in store for these children, who, whether better or worse born, come into the world innocent and pure-minded, is terrible indeed. Innocent and pure-minded they are allowed to remain until they reach the age of thirteen or fourteen — the period at which they are initiated into the dirty practices of the Community. At this age, a period so critical for both soul and body, their education in impurity begins. The pamphlet of Noyes on the subject of " Male Con- tinence " is put into their hands, and they are care- fully instructed in the- mysteries of the sexual rela- tions, as those mysteries are practised at the Commu- nity. Their thoughts are drawn out of the pure, healthy chai^nels marked out for them by Nature, and turned into the mire of lewdness. Then, when they are deemed sufficiently instructed, they are taught the practical part of the course. The girls are seduced by the old men, and the boys are given to the embraces of the old women. ' " We abhor rapes," says Noyes. ISFo villain as- saulting a child seeks to contaminate her soul. He violates her person, but he does not seek to harm her soul. These wretches begin by poisoning the minds of the children to such an extent that violence is not necessary. They sully the purity of their minds and AND ITS VOTARIES. 237 hearts, and thus render them an easy prey to their vile arts. He who can look unmoved at the innocent chil- dren playing about the grounds of the Community, or brightening with their mirthfulness the children's hour, must be a very hard-hearted man. I could not do so without a feeling of despair coming over me. So young, so pure, and yet destined to such a fate ! Only a few years more, and those sweet little maid- ens will be stripped of their innocence, robbed of their purity, and numbered among the thousands who have fallen before the seducer's arts. It is horrible to contemplate. Worse than all, who knows but that the scoundrel appointed to seduce her may be her own father ? " This gentleman," said one of the Saints to Mr. Pomeroy, pointing to a companion, " has two daugh- ters in the Community. One of these daughters acts as his * mother ! ' " And yet Mr. JSToyes tells us, " Of such are the kingdom of heaven." 238 FKEE LOVE CHAPTER XVI. THE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS. Views of the Saints as to Intellectual Development. — The Community Schools.— The Primary Department. — ^^^mbiyoColleg^ — System of Studies Pur- sued. — The Professors. — Order of Recitations. — Necessity for Education in any Community. — Intellectual Condition of the Saints. — The Majority below the Average Standard. — Learning and Refinement really Foreign to such a State of Affairs. — What will be the Result of Education, honestly given, upon this System of Filthy Abominations ? The educational depai'tment of tlie Oneida Com- munity is as yet in its infancy. Tlie primary school has always existed, and has trained the children of the Community from the establishment of the institu- tion. The more advanced classes, however, are of comparatively recent date. At present efforts are being made to establish a Perfectionist College, w^hich the Saints hope at some future day to elevate to the dignity of a University. The children's school is located in the Seminary building, and is in charge of a female member of the Community. Here the little ones are taught the alphabet and the rudiments of a primary education. Then, some competent person takes them in hand and AND ITS VOTARIES. 239 trains tliem for tlie College, instructing them in the various branches usually taught in a grammar-school. The discipline is not very rigid, it being the object of the Saints to render study attractive to the pupils. The more advanced classes constitute the Collesre o as it exists at present. These pupils are between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, and are sixty-five in number, twenty-nine being men and thirty-six young women. The old men and old women seem to regard efforts in this direction on their part as thrown away. The young and middle-aged Saints, however, seem quite enthusiastic, and, as their opportunities for ac- quiring information before entering the Community have been limited, seem determined to do all in their power to make up their deficiencies in this respect. This school was established in the Fall of 1869. Previous to this, regular instruction had been given in the elementary branches, but nothing of any conse- quence liad been done in teaching the higher courses. There were those in the Community who dabbled in Latin, Greek, French, German, history, algebra, geom- etry, drawing, astronomy, and a few other scientific studies, but no regular or really valuable instruction in them was given. The new Seminary building was finished and ready for use, and Dr. T. K. Noyes and Mr. J. J. Skinner announced their purpose of teaching a regular collegiate course to all the young people of the Community who were willing to avail themselves of the privilege. " True," says The Circular^ " it might take longer than at Yale or Harvard, as our scholars spend but half of each day in study ; but 240 FREE LOVE then, we are at Iiome all tlie time, and can be as many years about it as we dioose." In pursuance of the plan of Messrs. Noyes and Skinner, classes were formed, studies assigned, and hours for recitation designated. Mathematics, they 'argue, is the foundation of all scientific knowledge, and therefore they require all their pupils to devote a certain time to it. Very few persons, they say, have a natural liking for it, and, if left to themselves, the majority would pay no attention to it. " We intend,'' * they say, " that all shall be well up in the usual branches studied at college, and then each can make a specialty of any one." At nine a. m. the first recitation commences. This is Professor Skinner's class in algebra. It consists of twenty-five members, about equally divided as to sex, and, I am assured, the girls are fully equal in capacity to the young men. At ten. Professor Skinner hears a recitation in trigonometry, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and in physics on the other days of the week. The trigonometry class consists of one young woman and ten young men ; but in the physics class the sexes are about evenly divided. At two o'clock Professor Noyes hears another class in algebra recite. At other hours there are recitations in the languages. Three days in the week Professor Noyes has a class in chemical analysis. The lecture-room and laboratory occupied by him have been already described. The lecture-room is small, but conveniently arranged. Folding-doors separate it from the laboratory, and these, being thrown open during the weekly lectures AND ITS VOTARIES. 241 on cliemistry, display the interior of tlie laboratory, and afford tlie best opportunity for exhibiting the e3 periments with which the lectures are accompanied. There are also several classes in arithmetic, geogra- phy and grammar, for those who are found deficient in these branches, but I am informed that these will not be considered a part of the regular course after the first year, but will be attended to in the primary school. The establishment of this school was a wise meas- ure. 'No Community, either Perfect or imperfect, can' exist without education ; and if these Saints mean to hold themselves entirely aloof from the world, they have done well in providing in their own midst the means of supplying the mind vdth that food without which it must degenerate. The majority of the mem- bers of the Community are sadly deficient in educa- tion, in spite of their boasts of the intellectual char- acter of their institution. There are a few men of real ability in the place, and these have naturally ac- quired such an influence over the Community thaf their views, their wishes, have the force of laws. The rest are persons of low position in life, plain working- people, whose experience in the higher social life of the country is exceedingly mythical in character. None of them have ever moved in what the world calls good society. They are very far from being in- tellectual, and some are scarcely intelligent. I saw very few men or women who impressed me with the excellence of their mental qualities. Go into any fac- tory in the land in which men and women are em- 16 242 FREE LOVE ployed, and you will see there displayed the average intelligence of the Oneida Community, and just the same class of* peo]3le, socially considered. The major- it}^ are sadly ignorant of their mother-tongue. If any one doubts this, let him take up almost any number of The Circular^ and see how the " Queen's English " suffers at the hands of the Saintly contributors to that journal. A few days at the Community will complete the conviction. Yet these half-educated, badly-bred people under- take to denounce the religious and worldly customs and ideas prevailing beyond the limits of their do- main as sinful and improper. They talk of perfec- tion, when they have no evidence of it in themselves. They presume to denounce all society as impure, when they have never known any but the lowest phases of it. They denounce the Christian religion as a sham, while ignorant of the highest and holiest Christian experiences. They talk of science, when they are ignorant of the first principles of it. Were the members of the Community drawn from the best w^alks of life, from amongst the refined and educated classes, we should find a very different state of affairs prevailing. Thoroughly intellectual people would soon discover the shams imposed upon them ; persons of refinement and moral culture would revolt at the grossness of the system in force, and, though the manufacturing interests might go on as usual, we should see the social features reorganized upon a very different plan. Only a Community in whose mem- bers the intellectual faculties are sunk below the sen- AND ITS VOTARIES. 243 sual can exist upon the plan of the Oneida Commu- nity. We may therefore reasonably expect, should the Saints succeed in diffusing real learning, and not a mere smattering of it, in their midst, that the next ten years will witness serious modifications in the social system. They are not satisfied, however, with the facilities afforded by their home school. Three of their most promising young men are maintained as students in the scientific and professional departments of Yale College, and I am told that it is the intention of the Community to supply their places with others on their graduation. I could not learn, however, whether these three ^perfect young Saints were the most distin- guished of all the students of Yale. In order to afford them a permanent boarding-place while at col- lege, a family is established at New Haven, Connecti- cut 244 FREE LOVE CHAPTEK XVIL ADIVnSSIOKS. Applications for Admission. — Character of Applicants.— Inducements Offered. — The Saints not Anxious to Increase their Numbers. — Statement of The Circular. — A Chance for a Good-Looking Female. — Always Easy to Find a Yacancy for Her. — What is Required of Novices. — ^Admission into Full Fel- lowship. — Duties of the Members. — Separation from the World, Entire Devotion to the Community, Relinquishment of all Personal Property, Belief in and Public Acceptance of Noyes' Blasphemous Religious Doc- trines, and a Total Surrender of the Person to the Abominations of Free Love, required of every Member. Application's for admission into the Community come in considerable' numbers from various parts of tbe Union, from Canada, and even from Europe. The majority of these letters come from persons in the humbler walks of life, but many are from persons of education, men, generally, who wish to enter the Com- munity merely to gratify their lusts at a small cost to their pocket. In a recent number of The Circular^ Noyes says : " Applications for admission still con- tinue to pour in upon us ; fifty more enthusiastic indi- viduals having intimated to us in various ways that their happiness depends upon a residence within our circle. Most of the letters are addressed to J. H. N. under the titles of ^ Keverend,' ' President,' ^ Father,' * His Excellency,' ^ Worthy Patriarch, of the Free-Love AND ITS VOTARIES. 245 Society,' &c. Tlie inducements wliicli are lield out to us as good reasons for favorable answers to these vari- ous applicants are numerous. One tliinks his youth, his healthy condition, and his good looks, are suffi- cient guarantees. Another speaks of good family con- nections and prospective- wealth. Here are two who will each bring a friend and $5,000. A. says, ^ If I am pleased with your by-laws' (which he requests should be sent to him), ^ I can procure for the Society some ten more men.' B. offers himself and a party of friends. C. grumbles because we do not answer his letters, and declares that, if he had made an appli- cation to any of the religious Communities in the United States, he would have been ^ welcomed with open arms.' As an extra inducement, he offers to bring a- young lady with him, whom he describes as ' youDg, virtuous, and handsome.' " The Saints are not anxious to increase their num- ber just now. They have as many perfect beings in their Community as they can well manage, and the leaders are too sharp and shrewd to risk their future success by the indiscriminate admission of strangers. For the purpose of discouraging applications of this kind, the following notice is published in every num- ber of The Circular : " The Oneida Community, and Branch Communi- ties, are constantly receiving applications for admis- sion, which they have to reject. It is difficult to state in any brief way all their reasons for thus limiting their numbers ; but some of them are these : 1. The parent Community at Oneida is full. Its buildings 246 FREE LOVE are adapted to a certain number, and it wants no more. 2. The Braneli Communities, tliougli tliey have not attained the normal size, have as many as they can well accommodate, and must grow in num- bers only as they can grow in capital and buildings. 3. The kind of men and women who are likely to make the Communities grow, spiritually and financial- ly, are scarce, and have to be sifted out slowly and cautiously. It should be distinctly understood, that these Communities are not asylums for pleasure-seek- ers, or persons who merely want a home and a living. They will receive only those who are very much in earnest in religion. They have already done their full share of labor in criticising and working over raw recruits, and intend hereafter to devote themselves to other jobs (a plenty of which they have on hand), receiving only such members as seem likely to help, and not hinder, their work. As candidates for Com- munism multiply, it is obvious that they cannot all settle at Oneida and Wallingford. Other Communi- ties m.ust be formed ; and the best way for earnest disciples generally is to work and wait, till the spirit of Pentecost shall come on their neighbors, and give them Communities right where they are. Our ambi- tion is not to increase our numbers at Oneida and Wallingford, and build up a little local sect, but to set a good example that shall light the way to univer- sal Communism." It has been stated that the Oneida Communists demand large sums from their converts as initation fees. This is not true. Kecruits of the proper kind AND ITS VOTARIES. 247 are admitted " vvitliout money and without price ; " but just at present men are not admitted upon any terms. Tliere is reason to believe, however, that, should a good-looking young woman present herself here and request to be admitted into the Community, her desires would be granted. The gray beard Saints would discover with wondei'ful rapidity that their affinities ran directly to her, and to her alone. The customs of the Community require a novitiate of one year, in order that the convert's fitness for membership may be thoroughly tested ; but it is said that this is not always rigidly insisted upon. The Saints themselves are very reticent upon this point, but enough is known in the neighborhood of the Community to make it tolerably certain that the fol- lowing is the method of dealing with new members. For a short while after entering the Community, the novices are permitted to wear their accustomed dresses, but as soon as they are admitted into full fel- lowship, the women are required to don the peculiar dress of the Community. All members are required to devote themselves to some species of employment, and the new members are assigned to such labor as is most agreeable to them, and in which their superiors think they will succeed best. There is an implied if not a direct pledge given to devote themselves, body and soul, to the interests of the Community, and to keep its affairs secret from the outside world. If the convert has money, it must be thrown into the com- mon fund, his or her only return from it being the food, shelter, and clothing given to each of its mena- 248 FREE LOVE bers by the Community. I^o one can retain any thing as private property, nor can any one possess even exclusive control over his or her own person. It is expected that all relationships known to the out- side world shall cease, and that here men and women shall be simply brothers and sisters. Each member is to love all the others alike, showing no special preference for any one ; and each must be ready at any time, unless prevented by sickness, 6r some other obstacle valid in the opinion of the Community, to gratify the desires of any one desiring his or her soci- ety. All are required to give themselves up to un- hesitating debauchery, subject only to the restriction of male continence. If the commission of incest be- comes necessary to the gratification of the lusts of any member, the other party must not hesitate. All are brothers and sisters here, and each one must be loved alike. Once initiated into the mysteries of the place, the convert goes on deeper and deeper into the life that has already been described in these pages. AND ITS VOTARIES. 249 CHAPTER XVIII. THE LITERARY DEPAKTMEJS'T.. Publications of the Oneida Community. — The " History of American Socialisms." —-"The Trapper's Guide."— " Salvation from Sin."— " The Handbook of the Oneida Community." — " Male Continence Explained." — The Circular. — Terms of Publication. The publications of the Saints are as yet few in number. They consist of their newspaper, Tlw Cir- Giiiar ; a pamphlet of 48 octavo pages, entitled, " Sal- vation from Sin the End of Christian Faith," by J. H. Noyes ; " The Handbook of the Oneida Community ; with a Sketch of its Founder, and an Outline of its Constitution and Doctrines," evidently the work of Mr. Noyes ; " The Trapper's Guide ; a Treatise on the Capture of Fur-Bearing Animals, by S. Newhouse; with I^arratives and Illustrations ; " ^' Male Conti- nence ; or, Self-Control in Sexual Intercourse. A Let- ter of Jnquiry Answered by J. H. Noyes ; " and the " History of American Socialisms, by John Humphrey Noyes." This last is a large octavo of 678 pages, handsomely printed and bound, and is claimed by the Saints as one of their publications, although it bears the imprint of J. B. Lippincott &> Co., Philadelphia. 250 FREE LOVE As I liave already stated, tlie composition and press- work were done at Wallingford. It is tlie only work of the kind in print, and contains full and complete Listories of nearly all the socialistic experiments in the United States. It is of considerable value as the only work upon the subject. The following notices of it, from two of the best periodicals in the Union, are offered here in place of any comments of my own. [Fiom the Overland Jlonihly,'] "History of Ameeican Soqialisms, by John HuMPHEEY NoYES. — The first impression received by the reader, as he dips into Mr. Noyes' work, will probably be, that the author is a rather shallow en- thusiast, more imperfectly acquainted with the history of his race than is pardonable in one who undertakes a contribution to it. The second impression will, per- haps, be interrogative of the first. And the third and final impression is likely to acquit Mr. Noyes of gen- eral historical ignorance, and to convict the reader's conscience of a special ignorance in himself quoad the subject of this book, although the author's enthusiasm remains, impressing the character and nullifying the value of his philosophy. The reader will also, proba- bly, detect himself giving thanks for the amount of ^ pure ' cussedness ' inherent in human nature, which, by restraining the diffusion of Communism, maintains society in a depraved and wicked condition, v>^ith which he is conscious of being in cordial sympathy. As to conclusions, he will, probably, differ in every possible respect from Mr. Noyes, and so far will expe- AND ITS VOTARIES. 251 rience a grateful sense of superiority and self-satisfiic- tion. " Thanks are due to Mr. Noyes that Lis book is a magazine of exceedingly effective missiles against that Communism in which he believes, to which he has devoted his life in which he is a leader, and of which he appears to be both a capable expounder and a just exponent. He helps in our perception of the social evils against which Communism is a reaction, and thus far he assists us in- dealing with them. " He seems to establish that that practical indus- try upon which communal existence necessarily rests, can be maintained under the communal organization only by religious enthusiasm, and we take comfort from this proposition. We know that under free edu- cation religious uniformity cannot be maintained ; and we draw from this book a fresh lesson as to the para- mount importance of maintaining education absolutely free. From the same proposition it appears that the communal organizations must be severally confined to their separate religious sects ; hence they will be mu- tually antagonistic and neutralizing. Moreover, each must, in the nature of creed, be the subject of schism, and hence no single one is likely to attain a degree of power which shall be mischievous to the common weal. Their function in enforcing industry is good. Their power for evil must be first exerted in the direc- tion of suppressing education ; and should this ever be found to overbalance their good work, it can be counteracted by making education compulsory. " The book itself is written in so concise a way. 252 FREE LOVE that a just notion of its contents can scarcely be given in less tlian its own number of 670 pages. It is a succinct memorandum of tbe American experiments in Communism, made under the Owen and Fourier impulses. Among tbe more interesting portions are those relating to that Brook Farm, which is a cher- ished memory with us from the associations with which Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller have invested it, and to the surviving Communities of Shakers and Free Lovers. The latter portions are rather more un- satisfactory than most of the publications of these Communities. They tell little more than those por- tions of the story — the money-results of Community labor — which are least important for the social stu- dent to know, although most important for the Com- munities to have known. The Shaker chapter gives some ncAV hints of the wretched state of intellectual degradation with which we were already acquainted. The Oneida chapter gives still dimmer hints of a moral perversion for which, in its practical develop- ment, we can only find a parallel in those portions of the moral history of mediaeval cloisterism which Lecky could not publish, and of which glimpses are had in Eabelais and Boccaccio. Apparently fair in his sketches of the dead and buried Communities, Mr. Noyes suppresses the story of those portions of the Shaker organization which are analogous with that which is distinctive in his own, and, when he comes to the story of the Oneida Community, is almost wholly silent as to its practical operation, except in money-results. Through the imperfect and vague sug- AND ITS VOTARIES. 253 gestion of other facts wLicli lie does give us, we per- ceive darkly the moral perversion of which we have spoken. " Parts of the book are unconsciously ludicrous ; and written, as they are, in a sincere and earnest spirit, produce the best effects of grave, realistic bur- lesque. But this is by no means the general, nor the strongest, effect. The latter is rather to induce, for the weakness and depravity of humanity, a pity some- what tempered by contempt. The record is one of failui'e, and is full of melancholy. It is an illustra- tion, upon a great scale, of the incisive satire of the introductory chapter to the ^Strange Story.' It com- pels us to recognize an amount of intellectual and moral darkness subsisting around us, which is at first almost disheartening. It is only by recalling the true story of the centuries which have preceded us, that we refresh our faith in the present and hope for the future. When thus refreshed, and we turn to deal with the difficulties and evils of our time, we find that we have obtained some new material to work with, and perhaps some increase in the power of working, from this * History of American Socialisms.' A knowledge of its contents is, in our judgment, impor- tant to the student of social philosophy, while it will be found to abound in matter upon which the merely curious will alight with agreeable surprise." [From the Princeton Review.'\ ," History of Ajiericais' Socialisms, by John Humphrey No yes. — We have looked over this ^ His- 254 FrCES LOVE tory of American Socialisms' with unusual but melan- choly interest, partly arising from the nature of the subject, partly personal, because we knew the author when the iii-st germs of the principles, whose ultimate development v/e find here, were forming in his mind. As feilow-students in the same theological seminary, we were in frequent contact, and had much animated discussion over the first beginning and original gene- sis of the ultraisms which at last flowered out into that system of sanctimonious licentiousness unblush- ingly avowed and defended in this volume, in the fol- lowing terms : ^' ' We affirm that there is no intrinsic difference between property in persons and property in things ; and that the same spirit which abolished exclusive- ness in regard to money, would abolish, if circum- stances allowed full scope to it, exclusiveness with regard to women and children. Paul expressly places property in women and property in goods in the same category, and speaks of them together as ready to be abolished by the advent of the kingdom of heaven.' — P. 625. '^ The abolishment of social restrictions is in- volved in the anti-legality of the gospel. It is incom- patible with the state of perfected freedom toward which Paul's gospel of "grace without law" leads, that man should be allowed and required to love in all directions, and yet to express that love in but one direction. In fiict, Paul says, with direct reference to sexual intercourse, " All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient ; all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of AND ITS VOTARIES. 255 any." Tliis is using gospel liberty as a cloak of licen- tiousness, and turning the grace of God into lascivi- ousness. " We recollect when what tlie author calls ^ the Revival afflatus, soon landed him in a new experience and new view^s of the w^ay of salvation, which took the name of Perfectionism. This was in February, 1834.' He was equally addicted to most of the isms of that period, so fermenting, and so prolific of this sort of progeny. He had more than average intellect- ual activity and acuteness, but wanted breadth and solidity. He had a great proclivity for w^orking and heating his mind on single points, until it was in- flamed in those fanatic ultraisms which fi::d their legitimate issue in unsettling all moral standards, and inaugurating the sway of Antinomian licentiousness. He sets up to be a teacher and guide of men. He can be such only as he is a beacon to warn them. " Nevertheless, his book has value. It is a com- plete account of all the social abnormities of this country w^hich have tried to substitute some form of Communism for family life, and for the constitution established by God in nature and revelation. All the socialisms set on foot in the land by the disciples of Owen, Fourier, the Spiritualists, Shakers, and others, are faithfully portrayed. To the student of sociology who would learn the morbid anatomy and pathology of the subject, we would commend this large and beau- tifully-printed volume." " The Trapper's Guide " bears the imprint of Ma- son Brothers, New York, and is devoted exclusively 256 FREE LOVE to the principles of free sport, instead of free love. It w^ill be found of considerable value to the sports- man, and enjoys the honor of being the only really useful book published by the Saints. The pamphlet called " Salvation from Sin " is a species of senuon by Noyes, and is devoted to an ex- position of some of the religious doctrines of the Saints. It possesses no special merit, and will hardly be regarded by the Gentile world as a conclusive argument upon the subject. " The Handbook of the Oneida Community " is prepared principally for the use of visitors, but is sent over the entire country to parties ordering it by mail. It contains a description of the combined Communi- ties, a sketch of IN'oyes, and a summary of the reli- gious and social doctrines of the Saints. The pamphlet ex2:)laining " Male Continence " is a filthy abomination. It does not rise to the dignity of a scientific paper, but is simply a disg*usting explana- tion and a very weak defence of one of the most rep- rehensible forms of obscenity. Tlie Circular is a weekly journal devoted to the interests of the Community, and to the spread of the doctrines and practices of the Saints. It is edited by Mr. Noyes, and is a curious mixture of religious cant, infidelity, and obscenity. ISTo reputable family would suffer it to enter their midst, and it is not a paper which a gentleman would put into the hands of a lady for perusal by her. Yet the Saints regard it as the most perfect journal in the world. A careful perusal of it is deemed a duty on the part of each IlSB its votaeies. 257 member. TTie diaries of the Oneida and Wallingford Communities occupy several columns of each issue, and will be found of service to persons wishing fuller information oii the subject of Communism. The terms upon which the paper is issued are thus stated in each number : " The Circular is sent to all applicants, whether they pay or not. It costs and is worth at least one dollar per volume. Those who want it and ought to have it, are divisible into three classes, viz. : 1. Those who cannot afford to pay one dollar ; 2. Those who can afford to pay only one dollar ; and 3. Those who can afford to pay more than one dollar. The first ought to have it free ; the second ought to pay the cost of it; and the third ought to pay enough more than the cost to make up the deficiencies of tjjie first. This is the law of Communism. "We have no means of enforcing it, and no wish to do so, except by stat- ing it and leaving it to the good sense of those con- cerned. We take the risk of offering The Circular to all, without price. "Free subscriptions received only from persons making application for themselves, not by request of one friend for another. " All subscriptions must be renewed at the end of each volume, or they will be stricken from the list, cases of prepayment beyond the end of a volume ex- cepted." 17 258 • FREE LOVE CHArTER XIX LEADING FEEE LOVERS, Social Character of the Saints.— Sketches of John H. Noyes, Oeorge Cragin, St., James Hamilton, Dr. T. R. Noyes, Dr. George E. Cragin, Sewell Newhouse, H. G. Allen, Mr. Jocelyn, Mr. Burt, John H. and C. Cragin, Frank W. Smith, J. W. Norton, George W. Noyes, J. J. Steiner, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Bolls, Mrs. J. H. Noyes, Mrs. H. K. Skinner, Sister, Jocelyn, the poetess?. Miss 0. A. Macknett, Charlotte M. Leonard, Harriet M. Worden, Augusta E. Hamil- ton, &c. — Specimens of Free-Love Poetry. — Personal Appearance of the Saints. — ^Very Low Physical and Intellectual Standard. » The majority of the Saints at Oneida and Walling- ford came from New England, and belong to the hum- bler classes of that section. They are chiefly persons of limited education, some being almost destitute of culture of any kind, and, having been v^ithout social advantages in their own homes, have had scarcely any opportunity of forming their opinions concerning the social life of the world by actual contact with it. They are without any kind of experience in the better and more refined phases of the life of the world around them, and are themselves so entirely without the refinements and graces of ordinary existence, that it is hardly a matter of surprise that they should de- nounce them. With all their boasted liberality, they are persons of narrow ideas, fanatics in most of their AND ITS VOTARIES. 259 opinions, and tlie most intensely egotistical mortals that tread the earth. The head of the Community, as I have so often said, is John Humphrey Noyes, a man of a little over the medium size, and of compact frame. He has an intellectual face, and one which bears traces of much physical suffering. He is the victim of a chronic bronchial affection. His hair is sandy, and he wears a full but closely-cut beard. The expression of the face is thoughtful, but wild and restless. It has less of the sensual in it than that of any other man in the Community— Hamilton alone excepted ; but it is not a pleasant countenance. His followers think him like Carlyle in appearance — a resemblance of which he is very proud. Mr. Noyes is a man of prodigii^ Duty of Society to Break Up the Free-Love Organization. — The True State of the Case. — Action of the People of Madison County. — Demand for the Suppression of the Oneida Community. We have dow reached u point at which it is neces- sary to pause and look back over what has been said in these pages, before dismissing the Oneida Commu- nity to the infamy they so richly merit. I have en- deavored to write plainly, but at the same time to write fairly — ^to lay the case before the reader as it presented itself to me ; and I have done so without fear and without malice. What I have written is not meant as an attack upon John Humphrey Noyes and his disciples, but as a reply to the assaults they have made and are now making upon society ; for they are 332 FREE LOVE unflagging in the warfare they wage npon all that we in the world regard as good and valuable. They spare no effort to spread their doctrines throughout the country, but when a single voice is raised against them in the cause of religion and morality, they at once resort to the cry of " Persecution," with the hope of driving off their assailant and drawing to them- selves that maudlin sympathy which the American people, with a mistaken liberality, give to every enter- prise of a professedly religious character. I repeat it, the members of the Oneida Commu- nity have thrown down the gage of battle, and it has become the duty of some one to take it up. This duty the writer has assumed, and has conscientiously endeavored to discharge. Others there have been who have touched upon the subject, but in a manner calculated to do more harm than good. Some of these works, though unquestionably brilliant and rich in thought, throw around the hideous immorality of the Oneida Free Lovers a glamour of romance, a mys- teriousness. which fascinate instead of shocking the reader. Those who have visited the Oneida Commu- nity and seen for themselves the practical workings of the doctrines held there, will bear witness that there is nothing either fascinating or elevating con- nected with the place. Yet the majority of those who touch upon the subject have invested it with a score of charms which it does not possess, and, as a natural consequence, the public have been deceived into regarding this Free-Love colony as a set of harm- less enthusiasts, as a band of dreamers seeking for a AND ITS VOTARIES. 333 liiglier and purer mode of life. All the while, these dreamers, these harmless enthusiasts, have been vi^ork- ing busily to undermine the foundations of that soci- ety which tolerates them, and have achieved such a degree of success in this effort, that it has become a matter of absolute necessity that the public should have an opportunity of seeing them in their true colors. The writer, therefore, has sought to state facts as he found them ; and if the story he has told is a- revolting one, it is not his fault. Indeed, he has not been able to lay before the reader all the abomina- tions of the Saints, for the reason that many of them will not bear discussion. His aim has been to call the attention of the friends of religion and morality in this country to this horrible " social plague-spot," in the hope not only of counteracting some of the evil which the Saints have done, but also of awakening the people of the country to the duty of suppressing the cause of the trouble, or at least of requiring of the Saints that obedience to the laws of the land that is demanded of every other man and woman in the country. T^ie statements made in the foregoing pages will leave no doubt in the mind of any reader that the Oneida Saints are living in open violation of the la maker of Poughkeepsie, one Andrew Jackson Davis, about twenty years of age. He now made his ap- pearance before the public as a seer of the new creed, endorsed by Bush as an honest man, and one pos- sessed of the noblest spiritual gifts. Davis was shrewd enough to allow his patron to make him well 410 FREE LOVE known to the faithful before he threw off his submis- sion to him ; but it was not long after his public in- troduction and endorsement by Bush, before tlje pupil threw off his allegiance to his master, and set up for himself as an independent prophet and seer. In proof of his spiritual gifts, he produced the " JSTew Harmonia," and several other bulky books, the sub- stance of which was impudently stolen from Sweden- borg. Not satisfied with purloining the ideas of the Swedish seer, the new prophet stripped them of the delicacy of their author, and clothed them with the grossness of his own imagination. " Wlien Bush saw reason to think his young friend no better than a rogue, he took up his parable against him ; but the jshoemaker of Poughkeepsie beat the Professor of He- brew and Oriental Literature in New York ; and the high movement in favor of a more spiritual science, which began among the poets of Brook Farm, and grew among the professors of Boston and New York, fell away into the widely popular but in no way in- tellectual, societies which fi.nd their gospel ill the * Great Harmonia,' their leaders in Home and Chase." I have said that Davis stripped Swedenborg's theories of their dreamy, poetic character, and clothed them with the grossness of his own mind. He did more. Swedenborg was a close student of the Bible, and did not seek to destroy the past. Davis threw away the Word of God as a snare and a delusion, and set up his own jugglery in its place. He rejected all the past history of our race ; or rather, he esteemed it of no account, and gave heed only to the present and AND ITS VOTARIES. 411 tLe future. Swedenborg, whether an impostor or not, was a man of deep religious sentiment and of pure life. Davis, on the contrary, was an avowed disbe- liever in- religion. He cared nothing for it,' and, judg- ing him by his subsequent career, it would seem that he invented his new system as much for his own profit and convenience as any thing else ; for he was prompt to make use of the liberty his spiritual privileges gave him. He made himself a physician, declaring that his gifts of healing were supernatural, and then set to work to sell cures. He declared himself a seer and a seai'cher of hearts, and boldly demanded pay for his services in this respect. Nor was this all. Having proclaimed the doctrine of affinities as the rule of his faith, he promptly set about putting his precepts into practice. He began to search for his natural mate, and soon found her. " The lady had the misfortune to be married ; but what of that poor shred of legal difficulty ? In the spiritual circles hearts are no more than acids and alkalies, which draw near to each other by a natural law ; on the principle which Captain Otto explains to Lotte — that of free affinities. Davis found in this married lady his free affinity ; and, after her death, he found a second affinity of his soul in another married lady, w^hom he claimed from a surprised and outraged husband as his natural mate. This second elect ran a^vay from her husband, got oif to Indiana, headquar- ters of the great spiritual doctrine of Free Divorce, and in tliat happy land of discontented wives found a release from her hateful bonds." 412 FEEE LOVE It cannot be possible tbat tbe faitb of wbicli such a man was tlie prophet can be otherwise than im- moral. Having affirmed that Spiritualism in its social fea- tures is but another form of Free Love, let us glance at the teachings and practice of several of the promi- nent members of the sect. We shall find that all are engaged in a bitter crusade against marriage. So long as marriage is regarded as the healthiest and best rule of society, Spiritualism and its Free-Love allies must languish. Hence the bitterness, the energy, with which they assault this great bulwark of society, both Chiistian and civil. Davis himself heads the attack. In one of the later volumes of " The Great Harmonia," he says : " Should a man or a woman, after entering into the relation of husband and wife, become convinced, by various means, that each does not embody the oth- er's idealy then they are not truly married — ^they are divorced ; and both have a natural right to seek fur- ther for the embodiment of the heart's ideal associate. Human legislation may not forbid them to marry again. In truth, men have no right to control arbitra- rily the soul's deepest, purest wants, the rights and elevations of true marriage." Again he declares : " The social responsibilities of marriage are not as complicated as many legislators and lawyers affirm. IVe know that in this order of society there must be a legal recognition of marriage; a record made of the. fact, in order to settle property questions, wills, deeds, AND ITS VOTARIES. 413 &C. ; but tlie words pronounced by tie minister or justice are in themselves of no account either in earth or heaven." In the same volume he says : " When two present themselves to the proper ma- gistrate, soliciting divorce, or when one makes applica- tion in writing signed by the other, and both make satisfactory statements, and present sufficient guaranty in regard to the disposition of their children, should there be an}^, then let their oath of honesty and free will be taken and recorded, with their names, and a certificate of legal divorce be given to each in return. " If the law requires a crime as the basis of an action, let us forthwith elevate the moral standard of right and wrong, and say : If a woman, under the in- fluence of importunity and the desire for a home, mar-, ries one whom she does not fully love, that woman hath committed adultery and a crime yet more against posterity. Or, if at first she did love her husband, and subsequently for sufficient, deep-seated, and capri- cious reasons, loves him conjugally no longer^ but an- other instead, and does not take that other to be her. husband, she is then guilty of being both a prostitute and an adulteress. The same moral law is equally applicable to man under like circumstances. " If a woman testifies of disaffection toward her husband, or if the husband testifies of disaffection toward the wife, and his or her probity can be estab- lished by witnesses and neighbors by whom the par- ties are known, let such be divorced." Dr. T. L. Nichols says : 414 * FREE LOVE " If by marriage is meaD.t an indissoluble monoga- my (or a union with one), a legal exclusive bond of a civilized institution, I deny that it ever is, or ever can be. right. / assert that the promise of a man to love any woman as long as he lives^ is wrong, ... I denounce, therefore, the civilized marriage, as a viola- tion of the laws of nature and the command of God." Mrs. J. S. Gilhams, of Indiana, says : " I, for one, feel that the ball must be kept rolling, until this life-long marriage law be swept from the nation, and in its place be instituted a law of higher significance, more exalted conceptions — one that will redeem the world from the sins of the fathers that have been visited into the third and fourth generation of them that disobeyed the Divine sanction of mar- riage. What is more sickening or revolting to the generous thinker, than seeing two souls, magnetically antagonistic to each other, tied together by the brittle thread of legality, perverting the divinity in their na- ture, cradling monstrosities, combining in their off- spring these conditional antagonisms, rendering their nature at war with itself? " The Universe, the New York organ of the Spirit- ualists, Free Lovers, infidels, and free-thinkers general- ly, says, in defining its position as the adversary of Christian marriage : "Free Love, even, may not be so bad a thing. * God's love is free,' or said to be, and those who ima- gine that a nian's or a woman's love, if equally free, is gross and wrong, think to little purpose, or do not think at^ all. We are approaching a crisis in society, AND ITS VOTARIES. 415 and the problem now demanding solution is the rela- tion of the sexes, in marriage and out of it. How* ever it may be solved, whether ]yj the extension of easier divorce facilities to unhappily-united couples — ^. by a return to strict codes, where marriage is substaur tially indissoluble — or in an ultimate withdrawal of control in every form, by both State and Church, from this most sacred relation of human beings, the issue id now joined, and the parties in this ' irrepressible con- flict ' must be heard. " For the uncovering of the horrors perpetrated under the protection of the so-called * holy ' institu- tion of marriage, as it now is. The Universe has been denounced in many quarters as ^ obscene,' * nasty,' and * immoral.' But the work has been commenced. The unveiling of hidden iniquities cannot longer be pre- vented. Since The Universe began its work, many a wretched victim of legal lust has come to us, thank- ing God and the angels that there have arisen those who will tear aside the veil that the Church and the law have placed around wedlock, and will tell of the pollution, the outrages, and the murders, thus sanc- tioned and protected." George B. Smith, of Michigan, advocates the Free- Love doctrine in the following resolutions : " Resolved^ That it is the duty of mankind to con- sider all questions affecting their temporal interests,, and judge of them wisely, discarding bigotry, dog- matic faiths, and Divine fheories, being governed wholly by the practical results. " Resolved^ That the question of marriage is one 416 FREE LOVE of paramount importance to mankind, concerning, as it does, the happiness of the present and existence of the future generations. ^^ JResolved, That, in view of the discordant mar- riages, the evils of celibacy and of prostitution, the existence of frightful diseases, of malformed, dement- ed, and vicious offspring, of secret vices and amours, and other immoral practices, and of disgraceful divorce prosecutions, makes it high time that every thinking man and woman should seek earnestly for a remedy for them, if any can be found. " Resolved^ That the greatest hope of regenerating the human race is in the regeneration or new birth of offspring free from the sin and disease now polluting the race ; and this can only be accomplished through the union of parents under truly loving and virtuous conditions. " Resolved^ That when married life becomes miser- able to the parties, it is their duty to dissolve it ; and in obstructing their separation, society becomes guilty Qf legalizing prostitution. ^'' Resolved^ That marriage contracts between the parties should be made on the same basis as those of any other partnership — for such periods of time, and upon such terms, as the parties may agree, they tak- ing of each other such security as they may deem ex- pedient for the faithful performance on the part of each ; and that laws should be made permitting and legalizing such contracts. " Resolved^ That a partnership for life, under the present attitudes of the sexes, is too much like a lot- AND ITS VOTARIES. \ 417 teiy, with more blanks tlian prizes, and that the risk of a wasted life, by drawing a blank, is too muck to ask of weak and erring mortals, the effect of which discourages prudent persons (or those most fit to un- dertake the duties and responsibilities of man'ied life) from incurring so fearful an adventure, and hence exerts a baleful influence by discouraging matrimony ; that limited contracts, subject to renewal, would obvi- ate this difficulty, and really encourage judicious mat- rimony ; would also draw out of each of the parties their better natures (the reverse of which is now too true), and continually improve their disposition and deportment towards each other, thereby b^-nishing in time the evils of discordant natures, intemperance, licentiousness, &c., by creating and rearing offspring free from these vices, instead of perpetuating them, as the blind and unharmonized system now tolerated sa effectually and lamentably does." Sarah Brook Strudwick writes to The Universe as follows, in support of the above resolutions : "The resolutions of Mr. George B. Smith on ^Lim- ited Marriage Contracts,' published in your issue of March 3d, are timely and interesting. It has so often been objected^ * What do you mean to give us in place of the present marriage which you would destroy ? ' These resolutions answer the question. They are con- structive and satisfactory, as far as they go. If it were the custom to make business contracts obligatory for life, murder and robbery would be the rule, in^ stead of the exception. Experience has - shown fully that the present life-long marriage is the grave of 27 418 FREE LOVE love. This belief is sufficiently illustrated in our works of fiction, where the legal marriage closes omi- nously the book. We know too well that, after that, the slavish position of woman makes her infinitely less interesting in the eyes of her master. In fact, all is *flat, stale, and unprofitable.' There is a vulgar superstition, that love, being * carried to its ultimate,' as Swedenborg would say, the refined fervor, the deli- cate consideration of the lover, is thereby evanished forever. But the contrary of this can easily be proved. The consummation of marriage strengthens the bond between equals. What destroys love, purity, health, manliness, womanliness, is the slavery of woman, through the inequality of the laws, and the wearing, life-long compact, which stands a threat be- fore the man, as the woman — irritating and tempting. Hence we find it impossible to rejoice at a wedding, no matter how gladly we have recognized the love that ifc must abate. We know that the respect and admiration which the young man felt for the free young woman — free, at least, to the- extent of marr}^- ing some one else if she choose — will fade surely into indifference, as he realizes that he owns her — owns her body and soul. Laws do not exist for saints or sages, but for average human beings. Saints and sages both have been known to act wisely and justly in chains in the Barbary States, but that scarcely proves the condition a desirable one. It may be ob- jected that neither party in a marriage have received any instruction from father or mother which would make them obedient, even to physical law, and that AND ITS VOTARIES. 419 tte "benediction of the priests opens tlie flood-gates of undisciplined passion, whicli must necessarily end in disgust. This is true. But the law that makes woman a slave, makes a social sentiment also to keep her one. She is the powerless, uneducated victim of a cruel superstition, and but slowly lifts herself erect and seeks to be free as a man." 'I could multiply th^se quotations indefinitely, but the above are sufficient. They show plainly the bit- ter hostility with which Spiritualism regards that in- stitution which men look up to as the great bulwark of public and domestic happiness in the world. Let us now glance at the practice of the Spiritual- ists. I give the statement of two men, who furnished their testimony to Mr. Wm. Hepworth Dixon during his recent visit to this country. ^* CAEPENTEe's CONFESSIOIf. *' March ZOih, 1867. "I was bom in the State of New York, and moved to the West when I was thirteen years old. Our family settled in Wisconsin, and my folks became intimately acquainted with a revivalist preacher named Berner, whose teachings affected me sorae. He was connected in his labors with Charles De Groff, a Spiritualist from New York. Afterwards I became a Swedenborgian, and continued in that be- lief for several years. "In the Spring of 1863 I moved with my family to Minnesota, and formed the acquaintance of Dr. 420 FREE LOVE Swain and his wife. She had been a Swedenborgian, and was better versed in the doctrines of that sect than I. She was now a Spiritualist of the school headed by Andrew Jackson Davis. She lent me books on the Harmonial Philosophy written by Davis, and speedily indoctrinated me into the mysteries of Spiritualism. She was a medium possessed of psy- chometrical powers, and under her teaching I soon learned that it was wrong for men and women who are not adapted to each other to live together. I had been married seven years, and led a life of domestic happiness, although my wife never sympathized with my religious views. Under the teachings of the Har- monial Philosophy, I was led to reflect a great deal, and visited Mrs. Swain frequently to converse on topics that interested me. My wife became suspi- cious, and charged me with an improper intimacy with Mrs. Swain. This was not the case; but, as time wore on, I gradually experienced a diminution of affection for my wife, and became more attached towards Mrs. Swain. Mrs. Swain said that there was no compatibility between Dr. Swain and herself, and that she had frequently thought of leaving him. "The Harmonial Philosophy teaches, in effect, that persons who are not * affinitized ' are committing adultery in living as man and wife. Davis, however, teaches that, by proper means, in many, cases an * affinity ' can be brought about ; but the general ten- dency of Spiritualism is to separate those who are not congenial. " During a year and a half I became very impres- AND ITS VOTARIES. 421 sible — in fact, a medium; tlie invisible guides im- pressed me with many ideas of a religious nature, some of which tended to convince me of the reality of the spiritual world. Among other things, I be- came strongly impressed with the growing incompati- bility between myself and my wife ; and, on the other hand, with the growing affinity between Mrs. Swain and myself. These impressions I communicated from time to time to Mrs. Swain, and she in turn told me of similar impressions which she had in reference to me. . . . My wife had ceased her suspicions. . . . I learned from Mrs. Swain that many Spiiit- ualists of note had thus sought out their affinities, and had abandoned the connections which were inharmo- nious. My course in the matter was determined by what I then conceived to be religious duty. Mrs. Swain told me of the doings of John M. Spear, with whom she was acquainted. He divorced his first wife on account of incompatibility, and lived with Miss Clara Hinckley, with whom he had discovered an affinity. He went to England with her. " After I had been acquainted with Dr. Swain and his wife for two years, I was called by business con- nections to'St. Paul, in Minnesota, where I foimed the acquaintance of several mediums; one w^as living with her affinity, another was mis-matched and was in search of her affinity. There were but two or three families of Spiritualists in St. Paul who were not mis- mated. Nine-tenths of all the mediums I ever knew were in this unsettled state, either divorced, or living with an affinity, or in search of one. The majority of 422 FREE LOVE Spiritualists teach Swedenborg's doctrine of one affin- ity, appointed by Providence for all eternity, although they do not blame people for consorting when there is an attraction ; else, how is the affinity to be found ? Another class, of whom Warren Chase is the most noted example, travelled from place to place, finding a great many affinities everywhere. " Chaeles C. Caepentee." "towler's coi^tession. "Cleteland, March 2U\ 1867. " Fifteen years since, while a Universalist preach- (a*, I became a Spiritualist ; and speaking of myself as an example, I here state that Spiritualism undermined and destroyed my respect for marriage. It led me to look on that institution in the light of a doctrine of affinity, and to regard it as a union or arrangement which the parties to it were at liberty to make or re- make to suit their own notions of interest and con- venience ; in short, through Spiritualism, as presented to my mind, marriage lost entirely its institutional and authoritative character, and there was substituted for it an affinital relation, to exist or be dissolved at the pleasure of the parties. This was tie theoretical view. In process of time, I became what is called a Free Lover — ^meaning, by that, simply one who holds that the individual has the right to make and remake his or her connubial relations, without consulting any authority, religious or legal. This always seemed to me, and does now seem to me, to be the legitimate AND ITS VOTARIES. 42S result of the doctrine of individual sovereignty wliicli Spiritualism unquestionably teaches. " My acquaintance with Spiritualists was quite ex- tensive until within ^ve or six years past ; and among those with whom I have been acquainted, the tenden- cy of thought in regard to marriage has been of the same -cast. I am also acquainted with most of the Free Lovers who have at one time or another congre- gated at Berlin Heights, in this State, and also with many others who sympathized with that movement scattered here and there throughout the West. And though it cannot be said with truth that all Spiritual- ists are Free Lovers, yet it may be said that all Free Lovers, with rare exceptions, are Spiritualists. There can be no doubt in the mind of any one who has been behind the scenes, that among the adherents of Spirit- ualism there are many Free Lovers, practically, who would not like to be known and reckoned as such. Indeed, of late years. Spiritualists have been seeking to remove from their system the stigma of teaching Free Love ; and yet it is notorious, at least among themselves, that some of those who are loudest in de- nouncing that doctrine are practising what they pro- fess to repudiate. As I have defined Free Love, above, there is an abundance of Free Lovers amongst Spiritualists. " Among the lecturers and leaders in the Spiritual- istic movement with whom I have been acquainted, I think the greater number have either been divorced legally, or have found themselves unaffinitized — in such cases seeming to feel themselves at liberty to go 424 FREE LOVE outside of tlieir matrimonial relations for tlie love they could not find therein. I could give many- names, but prefer not to do so, because the facts in my knowledge have in most instances been made to me in a confidential manner ; so I content myself with speaking of the matter in this general way. " J. W. TOWLEE." Nearly every reader of these pages will find some- thing in his own experience to confirm the above statements. Not many years ago, a gentleman of wealth and good social position, residing in the city of Boston, became a convert to Spiritualism. Up to this time he had led a life of strict morality and integrity, and had enjoyed an unblemished reputation. He was the father of a large family, which included two daugh- ters of a marriageable age, and had always manifested very great fondness for his wife and children. Upon embracing Spiritualism, he became a changed man. He began to absent himself from his family, to treat them with coldness, and even vrith harshness. At the same time, he was often seen in the company of a young woman of considerable notoriety in Spiritualist circles. His family were compelled to exist oil the merest pittance, but he made handsome presents to the spiritual companion who had ensnared him. In vain his fiiends remonstrated with him. He was deaf to all their appeals, and, in about a year from his first estrangement from his family, entirely deserted them, and refused to provide for them further. He ■m.m i|ji,,„ '^mm- i fi AND ITS VOTARIES. 425 rented a house not far from his former home, and in- stalled his paramour in it as mistress, the two living together in open shamelessness. To his friends, who ventured upon a last remonstrance with him, he de- clared that nothing would ever induce him to return to his wife. She was not his true affinity, he said, and it was wi'ong for him to live with her. The woman with whom he was then living he declared to be his true affinity, and maintained that there was no haim in the relations existing between them. They loved each other, they were man and wife in the eyes of Heaven, and it was a perverted public sentiment which censured them. Leading Spiritualists were consulted by the friends of the wife, in the hope of devising some means of a settlement of the trouble, but without result. They declared their inability to do any thing. The couple in question were exercising what all Spiritualists assert to be an inalienable right, and they were warmly welcomed in Spiritualist circles as valiant champions of this right. The Boston Spir- itualists not only refused to reprove the man for de- serting his wife for a younger woman, or the young woman for seducing the recreant husband, but main- tained the propriety and lawfulness (not legality) of the act. It will be found, upon a close examination, that a very large number, if not a majority, of professed Spiritualists, are immoral persons, and that all uphold immorality when practised by their fellows. They pay no respect to man-iage. Men and women living together without any tie but their own fancies for 4:26 FREE LOVE AKD ITS VOTARIES. eacli other, are lield by tLem in higher esteem than those whom the law and religion have joined togeth- er ; for they regard them as the heroic pioneers of the new order of society for which they are all working. They cast aside all the restraints of marriage, and hold that men have an inalienable pght to leave their wives, and women to leave their husbands, and seek new partners as often as they see fit, and that no one has the right to seek to interfere with them. If the law brands this change as a crime, they denounce that law as corrupt, and exert themselves to weaken its moral force. They do not hesitate to seduce women, to lead husbands astray from their wives, to separate families, and they thus work with determined and dangerous zeal for the destruction of the great basis of social and political morality. It matters not that they deny this, when their evil deeds are brought home to them. The effects of theii: teachings and practice are visible all around us, and they are alarming. Those persons, therefore, who would do their part towards saving society from the evils with which it is threatened by the doctrine of Free Love, should re- gard it as one of their most sacred duties to offer the most unwavering and consistent opposition to Spirit- ualism and its teachings. They should exert them- selves to discover and expose the impostures of the mediums, and to lay before the world in all their hide- ous deformity the social doctrines and practices of the followers of Andrew Jackson Davis. This is no diffi- cult task, and is one which should be faithfully per- formed. FREE LOVE IN SOCIETY. FREE LOVE AND ITS VOTAHIES. 429 CHAPTER XXV. FREE LOVE IN SOCIETY. Effects of the Teachings of Robert Dale Owen and Fanny Wright. — Statement by an English Writer. — The Strong-Minded Woman in her Glory. — How Impure Women seek to Justify themselves.— A Peculiar Feature of Amcri- can Society. — The Woman who Thinks for Herself, and Scorns the Control of Society. — ^A Free-Love Wedding. — Irregular Unions Endorsed by the Law.-^A Specimen Free-Love Poem. Besides tlie organized ejfforts of Free Love at Oneida, at Berlin Heights, and other places, there ap- pear from time to time certain teachers of the doc- trine, who succeed in drawing around them more or less weak-minded people, who blindly follow their teachings, and in their turn aid in corrupting the moral tone of society. The labors of Robert Dale Owen and Fanny Wright have not been without their result. To the baneful influence of the former we owe the shameful divorce system of Indiana, and the general looseness upon the subject of marriage which prevails in the country. These two reformers, full of their notions that the world is overpeopled, and that Christian marriage makes every woman who adopts it a slave, set to work to induce people to believe that the number of mouths to be fed must be reduced, and that woman must be freed from her bridal-bonds. 430 FREE LOVE Owen wrote a book called " Moral Physiology," and Fanny Wright" began a systematic crusade against marriage. Owen has the discredit of having suggest- ed to Father Noyes his dirty practice of " Male Conti- nence ; " and Fanny organized a war which has been vigorously carried on by her strong-minded successors. In the next chapter we shall eee how tliese advocates of Free Love, male and female, have succeeded in spreading immorality in the country. For the pres- ent, I desire to ask the reader's attention to the fol- lowing extracts from an Englisli work. It is a sad state of affairs wHcli can warrant sucb a declaration : "There is only too much reason to fear that the effect of all this teaching on the part of those wlio sought after the better life — of Dale Owen and Fran- ces Wright, of Albert Brisbane and Clarisse Vigoreux, of George Eipley and Margaret Fuller — was a vast increase in America of those irregular unions of men and women which, though known in many parts of Europe, are nowhere half so dangerous to public mor- als as in the United States. "When a man and woman, either in France or England, dally with the thought of entering into any of these lawless unions, which are known in America as a state of Free Love — unions contracted freely by the parties, but on a clear understanding that -they are time-bargains only, made to last either for a fixed term, subject to renewal, or simply for so long a time as the partners please — they know veiy well that the world will not be with them, and that they can only live the life they are choosing to adopt under a social AND ITS VOTARIES. 431 ban. In their own hearts, such a man and woman may be able to find excuses for what they do ; they may fancy that they lie under the strain of some spe- cial wrong, for which the law can yield them no re- dress ; and they may feel that social WTong has driven them into setting all social laws aside. But they do not pretend to think that- what they are doing is right, and that the world is false and fiendish because it holds up before them the chapters of an immutable moral code by which they stand condemned. The woman who, in England, claims to be a law unto her- self, will yet daily and hourly pray to God that her child may never have to face that question of acting on the individual will. " In the United States it is not so. The greai dis- parity in the two sexes, which in that country mates the female master of every situation, has deprived society of the conservative force engendered by fear and shame. No woman in that country needs to care whether she offend or not. If she is right in her own belief, that is enough ; she is hardly more responsible to her lover than to her groom. Instead of having all society against her, she finds a certain portion of it, and that of a class distinguished in some degree by art and culture, on her side. Free Love, instead of being universally condemned, has in America its poets, orators, and preachers ; its newspapers, lecture- halls, excursions, picni<;s, and colonies — all of which help to give it a certain standing and authority in her eyes. 432 FREE LOVE " Under the teacliing of this sort of song and sci- ence, a class of American women Las been brought to confound the moral sense so far as to think that it is right for a girl to obey her nature, as some of the re- ligious zealots say it is right for a man to follow the leading of the spirit. When one of these emanci- pated females departs from what the world would call the straight line of her duty, she claims to be follow- ing the ^ higher law,' and begs mankind to admire her courage and applaud her act. Thus it happens that a lady who prefers to live in temporary rather than in permanent marriage, with the man she loves, does not quietly submit, in America, to complete exclusion from society. She asserts a right to think for herself, in the matter of wedlock, as in every thing else. Is the moral question, she asks, of higher note than the religious question ? In Rome, and countries like Spain, she can understand that any departure of either man or woman from the usual rules, should be followed by a social curse ; society in such countries being inspired and guided by an infallible Church ; but in her own fi^ee Eepublic,- where the law knows nothing of a Church, either fallible or infallible, who has the right to launch a social curse ? If a woman is free to make her own terms with God, why should she not be free to make her own terms with man ? Is heaven of less account than earth ? Indeed, does not the higher liberty involve the lower ? Free Love is, she thinks, a necessary sequence of free faith. Why, then, in acting on her right, should she suffer a social stigma ? AND ITS VOTARIES. 433 "Sucli are the reasonings and tlie protests of a host of female preachers and writers ; of ladies like Frances Wright, Lizzie Doten, and Cora Hatch." The idea being once established that marriage is merely a time-bargain, that it is not a union for life, it follows that all religious and civil forms by which marriage is contracted amongst civilized nations are rejected by these reformers. Men and women simply agree to live together till mutual disgust, or weariness on the part of one or the other, separates them. The following will give the reader some idea of how these " Free-Love Bridals," as they are called, are managed. It is the statement of Mr. B. L. Lawrence, of Boston : "Boston, Fehruary^ 186Y. " Having mingled much with the world at large,, and with the reformers and Spiritualists particularly^ and seeing so much of domestic inharmony, my mind was made up never to marry, when a Bible Spiritual Medium came some miles to meet me, sent, she said^ like Peter to Cornelius, to testify to me concerning the things of the coming kingdom of heaven; and she told me that the believers must enter in in pairs^ and that among the things lacking in my case was a wife! — ^that I must and would soon find my mateH and that, until then, I would meet with nothing but / disappointments ; that I would know her soon, as we^ should meet, &c. Sure enough, troubles came — * fight- ings within and fears without.' A great fire at Syra- 28 434 FEEE LOVE cuse burned up the Journal office, witli all our bills, cuts, and stereotype plates^ My partner, Mr. C, left me alone ; and I concluded to go to a meeting of tlie Friends of Progress, at Stockport, IST. Y., and, by re- quest, I visited tlie farm of Mr. K., where the women work out-of-doors, and they have some of the Com- munity spirit. " Here I met with a young music-teacher from Quincy, Massachusetts, by the name of Priscilla Jones. Strange as it may appear, I felt that she was to become my wife as soon as I heard her name spo- ken ; and two days later, at the foot of Niagara's reef of rainbows, baptized by the mists of heaven, we pledged ourselves to unite our destinies, and work to- gether for human welfare, so long as it was mutually agreeable ; and the next Sunday, at the close of the Convention, we publicly promised to live together as husband and wife. B. M. L." Doubtless the reader will think that such forms as these are simply absurd, and amount to nothing in law. Let us see. In 1867, a man and woman, professing the doc- trine of Free Love, had lived together in Cincinnati, made money, reared a family of children, and then died. They had not been married as the law directs. They had simply gone to their circle, taken each oth- er's word, and then begun to keep house. !No form had been used that could be called a contract. JS'o entry of their pledges had been made* It was simply said, in behalf of these children, that the parents had AND ITS VOTARIES. 435 •andertaken, in tlie presence of some otlier liberal spir- its, to live together as long as they liked. On these grounds the children claimed the property left by their parents ; and the Court of law, after much con- sideration of the facts, allowed their claim. The peo- ple of Cincinnati were shocked and indignant at the decision ; but the friends of Free Love were jubilant, declaring that a hard blow had been struck at mar- riasre. But Free Love does not always present itself to the mind in such gross forms. It has its poets, its artists, many of whom are possessed of considerable genius. I give the following as a specimen of the rhymes upon this topic. It is a declaration of love, divided into two parts ; one part describing the love that will bless the happy pair in free courtship, the second part describing their bliss in free marriage. The poetess has allowed her Muse to lead her into regions into which the writer of these pages finds it utterly impossible to follow her. "free love. " I will love thee as the flowers love, That in the summer weather, Each standing in its own place. Lean rosy lips together, And pour their sweet confession Through a petal's bended palm. With a breath that only deepens The azure-lidded calm Of the heavens bending o'er them. And the bluebells hung before them, All whose odor in the silence is a psalm. 436 FREE LOVE " I will lore, thee as the dews love, In chambers of the lily, Hung orb-like and nnmeeting, With their flashes bending stilly. By the white shield of the petals Held a little way apart; While all the air is sweeter, • ' For the yearning of each heart, — That yet keep clear and crystal Their globed spheres celestial, While to and fro their glimmers ever daft. "I will love thee as the stars love. In sanctity enfolden. That tune in constellations Their harps divine and golden. Across the heavens greeting Their sisters from afar — The Pleiades to Mazzaroth, Star answermg to star; With a love as high and holy And apart from all the lowly — Swaying to thee like the planets, without jar. "I will love thee as the spirits love, Who, free of earth and heaven, Wreathe white and pale-blue flowers For the brows of the forgiven, And are dear to one another For the blessings they bestow On the weary and the wasted In our wilderness of wo ; By thy good name with the angels, And thy human heart's evangels. Shall my love from holy silence to thee go." "feee MAEEIAGE. " I will love thee as the cloud loves — The soft cloud of the summer — That winds its pearly arms round The rosy-tinted comer, % fr AND ITS VOTAKIES. 437 In terwreathing till but one cloud Hangs dove-like in the blue, And throws no shadow earthward, But only nectar dew For the roses blushing under; And, purified from thunder, Floats onward with the rich light melting through. "I will love thee as the rays love. That quiver down the ether, That many-hued in solitude,^ Are pure white knit^together ; And if the heavens darken. Yet faint not to despair, But bend their bow, hope-shafted, To glorify the air,— That do their simple duty, Light- warm with love and beauty. Not scorning any low plant anywhere. "I will love thee as the sweets love, From dewy rose and lily. That fold together cloud-like, On zephyrs riding stilly. Till charmM bard and lover. Drunk with the scented gales, Name one sweet and another. Not knowing which prevails; The winged airs caress them. The hearts of all things bless them ; So will we float in love that never fails. "I will love thee as the gods love — The Father God and Mother, Whose intermingled Being is The life of every other, — One, absolute in Two-ness, The universal power. Wedding Love the never-ending, Through planet, man, and flower; Through all our notes shall run this Indissoluble oneness. With music ever deepening every hour." FKEE DIVORCE FREE LOVE AND ITS VOTARIES. 441 iWl CHAPTER XXVI. r FREE DIVORCE. ^ The Efifort to Break Down Marriage.-^ylT1roi»4t-i»-Jfade. — ^Views of Christian Communities respecting Marriage. — Fidelity the Test in Law and Re- ligion. — ^True Meaning of Free Love. — Marriage Ceases to be regarded as a Permanent Institution. — Position of the States of the Union with regard to Divorce. — ^The Divorce Laws of Indiana. — ^Astounding Looseness. — Position of the Religious Denominations of the Country respecting Divorce. — An Unbroken Front. — Looseness of Clergymen.*-They do not Regard their Ministerial Obligations. — The McFarland-Richardson Case. — Charge of Re- corder Hackett. — Re marks in th eJ^oman-Suffrage^gnYgnti_9n. — The Viola- tion of the Law Applauded!— Views of The Independent.— Yi^xIMzlCxQXk of the Free Lovers. — ^Declaration of J^"SrNoyesr^^^^^Statement byTHrrGy&dey. — Terfi bl e -Loost irggst^How an Eastern Merchant Got Rid of an Old Wife and Took a New #ne in a Single Day. — Statement Of the Chicago JTvnes, —Divorce Market of Chicago. — Statistics of PresTaeTrt-Woorsey. — Com- ments of the Baltimore Sun. — The Divorce-Ring of New York. — How Divorces are Obtained. — Lawyers of the Divorce-Ring. — "Working up a Case. — ^What such Divorces are Worth. — The Referee System. — Systematic Perjury. — Statements of the New York World and Herald. — Illustrations. — ^The Rich Son and his Victim. — A Father's Justice and its Sequel. — How a Husband was Victimized, and Robbed of his Wife. — ^A Divorce Gained by Perjury. — Retribution. — A Chicago Suit and a Righteous Judge. — A Wash- ingtonian seeks to Cast ofiE his Wife because he is Tired of Her, and Wishes to Marry her Sister. — A Novel Use of Divorce. — Public Opinion Corrupt. — A Proposition for Limited Marriage. — Declaration of The Universe. — Woman Suffrage Necessitates Free Love. — Duty of the Public. HAviisra shown the workings of the doctrine of Free Love in the organized efforts of its votaries, let US now glance at some of its effects upon society. The chief effort of those who advocate or practise 442 FREE LOVE tMs infamous doctrine is, as has been sliown, to break down tlie institution of marriage, tLey being aware that, so long as this institution exists, they must meet the contempt and denunciation of reputable persons. Anxious to bring their vile principles into favor, they seek to degrade society to their own level, and, by de- stroying all morality, to glorify their shame. In order to do this, they naturally seek to destroy marriage, the strongest barrier which religion and society have raised against them. Should they succeed in destroy- ing this, religion itself will follow, and society will be reorganized upon principles of universal licentious- iless. This is their avowed programme — ^first, to de stroy the institution of marriage ; second, to abolish the Christian religion ; and third, to inaugurate a reign of lust. It is not necessary to enter into any defence of the marriage relation here. The writer presumes that his readers are persons of respectability, and that they do not share the hostility manifested towards it by the I Free Lovers. It is simply enough to say, that society has recognized marriage as its greatest safeguard against the assaults of passion, and has sought to pro- tect it by every means in its power. In all Christian countries, the sacredness of the marriage institution is distinctly recognized, public sentiment looking with disfavor upon unions which are not consummated by (^ a religious ceremony. The civil government, in order to protect it still further, has made marriage binding in law as well as in religion. It requires that a man and woman shall have but one matrimonial partner AND ITS VOTARIES. 44S at a time, and tliat tie marriage of a wife or liiisbaiid to any otlier person during tlie continuance of tlie first union, sliall be punished as a crime. Marriage, both, in religion and law, is a contract between two parties, eacb of wliom is required to faithfully and perfectly observe all the conditions of the bond. Fidelity to each other is the basis of the contract. Infidelity on either side dissolves the union. Marriage requires absolute faithfulness to one person. Free Love gives perfect freedom to change the object of one's preference at will. These two sys- tems being so utterly antagonistic, it follows that, if the first is right, the other is wrong. Hence the assaults of the votaries of Free Love upon the institu- tion of marriage. The marriage relation rests upon the fidelity of the parties to each other. This is the law of God, by whom the institution was founded ; and it is also the law of man, to whom the preservation of its purity is so necessary. Both the Divine and civil law unite in declaring the bond dissolved, should either party, in violation of the nuptial vow, bestow upon a stranger those endearments which are the right of the husband or the wife. Christianity recognizes adultery by either party as a legitimate ground for divorce, but acknowledges no other. It regards marriage as a per- manent institution, as existing for better or worse, dis- soluble only for the above cause. In the earlier ages, when the Church was all-powerful, there was no need of a civil law upon the subject. The Church had the physical strength necessary to enforce its decrees, and 444 FREE LOVE divorces were rare, being granted only for tlie one cause just mentioned. As the world advanced in civilization, and tlie Churcli lost its temporal power, it became necessary for tlie State to take tlie marriage relation under its protection, and to guard its sanctity by severe laws. Licentiousness, tliat cbief source of the devil's power over men, kept pace with civiliza- tion, and men and women, under the influence of this temptation, began to find the restraints of wedlock irksome. They desired a freer field for their fierce passions, and began the effort to break down mar- riage, which has continued to this day. Their first triumph was gained when some of the European States made marriage merely a civil contract, and stripped it of its religious character. Their next tri- umph was when the State began to grant divorces with permission to marry again for causes other than adultery. Since then, facilities for divorce have gone on increasing, until, at the present day, marriage has lost much of its moral power. In our own country society has suffered greatly from the inroads of Free Love. Licentiousness exists in all parts of the world, but the Western Continent is the home of Free Love. Licentiousness is very dif ferent from Free Love. The former exists in secret, and avoids publicity. The latter not only exists in defiance of the law, but seeks to destroy it, and to build up a system of its own, in which vice shall be made admirable and morality a reproach. As I have said before, the only way in which this can be done is by first destroying the institution of marriage. AND ITS VOTARIES. 445 In tills country tlie friends of Free Love liave ac- complislied mnch. They liave succeeded in stripping marriage of its religious character. A very large number of our people regard the institution as merely a civil contract, and never seek a religious ceremony at their union. Public opinion sustains them in this, and has long since ceased to regard a religious cere- mony as a necessary part of a valid marriage. Hav- ing thus lowered the wedded estate to the level of a mere business partnership, it is not to be wondered at that the means of escaping from it should have been multiplied also. A recent writer thus sums up the position of the States of the Union with respect to divorce : " The law of divorce in the United States is vari- ous in different States. In New York, jurisdiction of all cases, whether of divorce a vinculo^ or of limited divorce a mensa et ihoro^ was given by statute to the Court of Chancery, and upon the abolition of that Court, it vested it in the Supreme Court in the exer- cise of equity power. Adultery of either party is the sole cause occurring after marriage for which a divorce' a vinculo can be granted. It is, however, provided that sentence of imprisonment to the State Prison for life is civil death, and the husband or wife of such imprisoned person is at liberty to marry again with- out the necessity of any judicial action. Imprison- ment for a less term than for life merely suspends civil rights, but does not abrogate them ; and the convict, upon expiration of his term, resumes his marital rights. ISTo -orovision is made by law for the case of 446 FREE LOVE long-continued absence, except tliat tliere is an exemp- tion from the penalty of tlie statute against bigamy in tlie case of a second marriage wlien tbe former hus- band or wife has been absent ^ve successive years, without being known to the other to be living, but the second marriage is not thereby made valid. In some of the States jurisdiction has not been conferred upon the Courts to grant divorces, and the power rests solely with the Legislature ; and in others, al- though there is judicial authority, yet applications to the Leo:islature are also made. In all the States adul- tery of either party is a ground of divorce. In Mas- sachusetts, Maine, and New Jersey, wilful desertion for Rye years ; in Indiana and Missouri, desertion for two years, cruel and inhuman treatment by the hus- band, or his habitual drunkenness for two years ; in Ohio, wilful desertion for three years, and habitual drunkenness for the same period ; in Vermont, impris- onment in the State Prison for three years ; in Penn- sylvania, wilful desertion for two years ; in Connecti- cut, wilful desertion for three years, or seven years' absence without being heard of — also constitute suffi- cient grounds of divorce. In the State of New York, a limited divorce a menaa et tlioro is granted on the complaint of the wife for cruel and inhuman treat- ment, or such conduct as makes it unsafe or improper for her to cohabit with her husband, or for wilful de- sertion and refusal or neglect to provide for her. Ap- plications to the Legislature for a divorce have been most frequent in Vermont, Connecticut, and some of the Western States. In Connecticut, no petition for a AND ITS VOTARIES. 447 divorce can he acted upon in a case where tlie Courts are competent to give relief. In other States, as Vir- ginia and Kentucky, such an application is usually referred to the Courts for investigation." '^ The State which is most lax (or most liberal^ as the popular term is) in the matter of divorce, is In- diana. The following is an abstract of the laws of that Commonwealth relating to this subject : " § 6. Divorces may be decreed by the Circuit Courts of this State, on petition filed by any person who, at the time of the filing of such petition, shall have been a hond fide resident of the State one year previous to the filing of the same, and a resident of the County at the time of filing such petition ; which hond fide residence shall be duly proven by such peti- tioner to the satisfaction of the Court trying the same. " § Y. Divorces shall be decreed, upon the ap- plication of the injured party, for the following causes : " 1. Adultery, except as hereinafter provided. " 2. Impotency. " 3. Abandonment for one year. " 4. Cruel treatment of either party by the other. " 5. Habitual drunkenness of either party, or "the failure of the husband to make reasonable provision for his family. " 6. The conviction, subsequent to the marriage, in any country, of either party of an infamous crime. * " Appleton's Cyclopsedia," vol. vi., p. 525. 448 FREE LOVE " T. Any other cause for wliich the Court shall deem it proper that a divorce shoidd he granted. " § 23. Tlie divorce of one party shall fully dis- solve tlie marriage contract as to both. " § 24. A divorce decreed in any other State by a Court having jurisdiction thereof, shall have full effect in this State." * The law of Indiana, as well as that of Connecti- cut, recognizes no partial divorce. It breaks the nup- tial bond entirely, and leaves both parties free to wed again. In the case of Indiana, the reader will see how great a liberty is granted by the clause which I have italicised. Having examined the positions of the States, let us now see how the principal religious bodies view the subject of divorce. The Homan Catholic Church recognizes no divorce with permission to marry again in any case. Separa- tions from bed and board are acknowledged, but par- ties must seek no other union until the death of one makes the other free. Persons living in this state of separation are encouraged to come together again. The Protestant Episcopal Church recognizes di- vorce only when granted upon the ground of adul- tery. JS'o minister is allowed to solemnize matrimony in any case where there* is a divorced husband or wife of either party still living ; but this is not to apply to the innocent party in a divorce for adultery, or to par- ties once divorced seeking to be united again. * " ReTised Statutes of Indiana," rol. ii., pp. 234-237. AND ITS VOTARIES. 449 TJie Presbyterian Church recognizes divorce for adultery only, and allows tlie remarriage of the inno- cent party only. The Methodist Church holds the same ground as the Episcopal and Presbyterian upon this subject. The Congregationalists having no common author- ity except the Bible, each separate church determines such matters for itself, under the advice and counsel of Associations. As far as the v^iter is informed, these churches recognize divorce only for adultery, and refuse to solemnize the remarriage of the guilty party. The Baptists, like the Congregationalists, are in- dependent of a central authority, but the rule with them seems to be that laid down by the New Testa- ment, which recognizes divorce only for adultery. Thus it will be seen, the principal religious de-- nominations in this country cling to the Bible rule,, and refuse to sanction the remarriages of divorced par- ties guilty of adultery, although such marriages are^ valid in law in some parts of the Union. I shall show, farther on, that the law is not loose enough to suit the popular taste, and at present it will be hardl}^ more than necessary to state a few facts to sIlow the reader that even the churches are not sustained in their doctrines by their own ministry. A recent num- ber of the Toledo Commercial, referring to this, says : " Recent events having made the remarriage of divorced persons so ^prominent, and excited so much discussion of the duties of ministers of the gospel in that connection, it may be proper to refer to the mat- 29 450 FREE LOVE ter again, and inquire both as to the practice and the authority of the clergy in the premises. We deem it entirely safe to say, that Mr. Beecher stands by no means alone in the matter of remarrying divorced par- ties. On the contrary, we are satisfied, from observa- tion and other information, that great and extended* looseness exists among the clergy of more than one denomination. We are assured that many of these treat the marriage ceremony purely as a civil contract, and hence consider themselves at liberty to perform it for any body entitled to be married under the statute. Indeed, ministers have told us this was the fact. It is not probable that intelligent persons could amve at such a conclusion by any course of reasoning, but must assume it, without reflection. A moment's thought would show, that while the magistrate acts only as a civil officer, aiding in the consummation of a civil contract, the clergyman acts in the twofold capacity of civil and spiritual agent — attesting the agreement of the parties under the law, and sanction- ing and sealing it in the name of the Almighty. The one is answerable for the manner in which he dis- charges his trust to the State alone, while the other is responsible both to the State and to his Church. From this it will be seen that, while the magistrate is bound to look only to the law for direction, the cler- gyman must look to the statute and also to the re- quirements of his commission as a minister of the gospel. The one is required to act whenever called upon by parties authorised by law to marry; the other is allowed to exercise his own discretion in each AND ITS VOTARIES. 451 case presented. A clergyman may marry wliom lie pleases, or no one; but tlie magistrate has no such option. The reason for this distinction is found in the difference in the authority of the two. The civil officer merely declares the union to have been effected according to the laws of man ; the clergyman, accord- ing to the laws both of God and man. The one looks to the statute to decide any question that may arise, while the other looks to that, to the Bible, and the regulations of his church. " While such are the theory and rules of the lead- ing religious denominations, it is without doubt true that many clergy are loose in their practice — so much so, indeed, as scarcely to stop to go behind the license presented by the parties. It is not for us to call» such action in question, any farther than their violations of church obligations justly subject them to the charge of inconsistency. So long as they keep within the statute, they are only answerable to the ecclesiastical authority for what they do outside that. The ground of censure of Mr. Beecher was not so much that he married a woman divorced for a non-Scriptural reason, as that he married one not divorced at all, according to the laws under which he acted. Had the so-called divorce of Mrs. McFarland been a real and legal fact, Mr. Beecher's church alone would have been author- ized to call him to account for his actions, although all persons would have been at liberty to judge of his consistency as a clergyman. But when he employed both his civil and ecclesiastical functions in promoting 452 FREE LOVE what is "believed to be an unlawM and demoralizing act, he subjected himself to the just censure of all good citizens — a fact of which he seems to be about as conscious as most other people." It has not been very long since a distinguished clergyman of the State of New York " united in mar- riage " (?) a woman who had been divorced from her husband under the Indiana law, and a man who was charged with having seduced the divorced wife under very aggravating circumstances. The second "mar- riage," as it was called, was performed by the author- ity of the State of New York, which State has dis- tinctly refused to recognize the validity of an Indiana divorce. This being the case, the minister's office was a mockery. The second ceremony was not a legal marriage, but a sham. The Recorder of the city of New York, in charg- ing the Grand Jury, which met some time after this occurrence, used the following language with reference to it : " I think I should be derelict in the discharge of my functions as an elected conservator of the peace and morals in this court, did I now omit reference to some of the incidents following the act which culmi- nated in the homicide just referred to. In vain shall conductors of influential newspapers, and claiming to be moral leaders, beneficially affect the community, if they convert their homes into Free-Love asylums. In vain shall ministers of the gospel be heard when criti- cising public men, as well as warning private parish- ioners, if they are allowed, unrebuked, to give bene- AND ITS VOTARIES. 453 dictions to bigamy, or to consecrate lechery by prayers at the bed of death. If there has been bigamy com- mitted, or aided or abetted, by any persons, no matter how elevated in life they may be, fearlessly investi- gate the matter, and, arriving at the fact of probable guilt, promptly indict." About this time the National Convention of the Woman-Suffrage party met in New York. Among other topics, the marriage of Mrs. McFarland to Mr. Richardson was discussed. The Free-Love tendencies and sympathies of the Woman-Suffrage party are so well known to the reader, that it will hardly surprise him to read the following abstracts of addresses in support of the outrageous proceedings connected with the Richardson-McFarland affair : " Mr. Poole, the mover of the resolutions of last week, then proceeded to advocate their passage. He thought that this Richardson affair would enable them to look into its causes, and to show the inconsistency of a newspaper planting itself upon politics instead of upon principles. His opinion was that the divorce laws of this State should include other causes for sep- aration besides the one of adultery. (Applause.) Cruel and inhuman treatment, habitual unkindness, or a refusal to support the family, should be a sufficient ground. He then proceeded to speak of the marriage ceremony performed at the Astor House. He said that the man tliat had refused to jyerforin that cere- mony would have heen umoorthy the name of ^ an American citizen. He justified all of the three clergy- men, but said that Mr. Frotbingham was the noblest 454 FREE LOVE Eoman of tliem all. (Applause.) Tlie others had showed the white feather. Mr. JField had ensconced himself behind Beecher, and Beecher had got behind the Tribune, and Mr. Greeley had granted him a dis- pensation to perform that ceremony. (Applause.) Jt was true, the speaker said, that tlm^e was a statute against performing such a marriage, but he honored them for overriding such a statute. (Applause.) Our laws were the old Oriental laws, whrn men had harems. The same laws can be found in Turkey and elsewhere. Women are loaded down with laws. He objected to all laws affecting women because they are women. (Applause.) The speaker then proceeded to apologize for men. He said they were sO educated that there was not one in a hundred that knew how, when he was married, to treat a woman properly. (Great applause.) Women cannot maintain an action against the seducer of her husband ; she cannot re- cover damages as a husband can if his wife is seduced, and this the speaker thought all wrong. He then read from a paper of several prospective marriages- on Fifth Avenue, and continued : ^ Now, if these ladies should see their names published as belonging to this Association, or any other that would benefit society, Jiow they'd blush ! how they'd screech ! how they'd howl!," (Applause and laughter.) Mr. Poole con- cluded by hoping the day was not far distant when woman would have equal power with man— would sit with him on the bench and in the council chamber, or in the legislative halls, and then all these oppressive laws would be expunged from the statute-book. AND ITS VOTAKIES. 455 " Mrs. Blake said slie wished to say a few words on tMs divorce q^uestion. There had been so much misconception as to what was said at these woman's meetings, that she felt it to be her duty as a wife and a mother to speak on this subject. She would not agree to give so wide a sweep to divorces. Perhaps great cruelty might be a sufficient cause, but she could not be in favor of these lax divorces of the Western States. There were others to be considered besides the parties themselves — there were the children ; and then, too, the effect on society would be pernicious. Look, she said, at the example of France during the Reign of Terror, when the divorce laws were relaxed, and the effect of ii was that a woman could not go to a public assemblage without seeing six or eight differ- ent husbands. Then, too, what sort of a domestic life would there be under this state of affairs? What would a child be, to grow up under the influence of half a dozen step-fathers ? For herself, she most sol- emnly protested against any step which would lead to any thing of the kind. (Applause.) " Mrs. Norton said she would like to know what the condition was in France at the time spoken of by the previous speaker. For her part, she thought that even the condition spoken of by Mrs. Blake, when tJie woman had six or eight husbands, was much better than that under which they now lived, when a woman was obliged to live with a husband she detested. " Mrs. Somerby thought that this question should not have been brought up here. She had no objec- tion to the resolutions as such, but they were more 456 FREE LOVE suitable for a social-reform club than a suffi-age asso- ciation. She heard a great deal at these meetings about the Tribune and about the reporters, but very little about what should be the real object of the association — suflErage. They should discuss the right of women to vote. When she got the ballot, she would soon legislate on all these questions. " Dr. Hoeber said that they should try to show why they wanted the suffrage ; and this is one of the reasons. He had noticed one thing in connection with the case which led to this discussion, and that was, that none of the papers of the day took up the cause of Mrs. McFarland, and this was a specimen of the way women were treated. All through the social scheme mothers would marry their daughters to men and never make inquiry as to how many poor girls he had ruined ; but if a girl got seduced, her chances of marriage were gone. The present system of marriage was nothing but prostitution. (Sensation. Several ladies here left the hall.) The Doctor continued for some time longer in this strain." The Neio^ YorJc Independent expressed itself as fol- lows upon this subject : " This horrible case is a new illustration of the folly and wickedness of that semi-superstitious senti- ment which, in the name of maintaining the sanctity of marriage, outrageously perverts the very idea of maiTiage, by compelling the life-long union of two per- sons^ either of whom finds such a union to be loath- some, degrading, and unholy. There is no divine, and there ought to be no human, law to compel the con- tinuance of any marriage which, so long as it contin- AND ITS VOTARIES. 457 ues, is notHng better tlian legalized prostitution. * "Whom Ood hatli joined together ' — ^that, and tliat only, is the Divine idea of marriage. Any thing short of that is abomination. To chain two human beings fast to each other's side, against the perpetual protest of galled and wounded human nature, is an offence at which angels weep. The great, indifferent public have no right to say, either on the basis of any stat- ute law, or on the deeper basis of any popular senti- ment, or on the still deeper basis of any supposed religious tenet, that any two individuals, man and woman, shall live together as husband and wife against the inward protest of their own individual souls. Derived from whatever source, based on what- ever foundation, sanctioned by whatever tradition, such a legalized tyranny is unworthy of a Christian civilization, shamefully perverts the fundamental teachings of Christianity, and destroys the sacred claim of religion to the reverence of mankind*" How greatly the Free Lovers of the country were delighted with the course of those who upheld the conduct of the actors in this affair, may be seen from the following declaration of John H. Noyes, in Tlie Circular of May 16, 1870 : " One point gained would seem to he the setting of Greeley^ Beecher^ &c.^ against marriage. There has heen a tremendous pommelling of tlie Tribune on the one side^ and of tlie fashion of the world on the other. McFarland has got the best of it in the verdict, but nfiarriage has got many an ugly blow in the melee ; and the end is not yet^ This is no idle boast. The principle of Free Love 458 FREE LOVE has weakened marriage, has struck it many a How, and one of the hardest is the neglect of their duty in the premises by so many clergymen. The moral effect of their delinquencies can scarcely be estimated. I have shown that, while some of the States of the Union refuse to grant divorces but for one cause, oth- ers place scarcely any restraint upon them, leaving it, in one State at least (Indiana), to the discretion of the judge to whom the appeal for separation is made. So great is the laxity which prevails upon this sub- ject, that it is only necessary for a married individual to become tired of his or her partner, to procure a divorce. It is now in the power of any person pos- sessing the necessary amount of money to win over the judge to whose discretion the question of separa- tion is entrusted by the law. Almost any cause is sufficient, if the judge can be properly influenced. Marriage no longer has any restraints. Those who find the nuptial tie irksome, can easily undo it. Mr. Greeley, some time ago, in referring to this state of affairs, said: "The Paradise of Free Lovers is the State of Indiana, where the lax principles of Eobert Dale Owen, and the utter want of principle of John Pettit (leading revisers of the laws), combined to establish, some years since, a state of law which ena- bles men or women to get unmarried nearly at pleas- ure. A legal friend in that State recently remarked to us, that, at one County Court, he obtained eleven divorces one day before dinner ; ^ and it wasn't a good morning for divorces either.' In one case within his knowledge, a prominent citizen of an Eastern manu- AND ITS VOTARIES. 459 facturlng city came to Indiana, went tlirougli tlie usual routine, obtained Ms divorce about dinner-time, and in tlie course of the evening was married to his new inamorata, wlio had come on for the purpose,- and was staying at the same hotel with him. They soon start- ed for home, having no more use for the State of In- diana ; and on arriving, he introduced his new wife to her astonished predecessor, whom he notified that she must pack up and go, as there was no room for her in that house any longer. So she went." * Indiana, however, is not the only St ate. in which such looseness prevails. Illinois has almost as bad a record, as the following article, which appeared in the Chicago Times in December, 1868, will show : "During the present year of grace, two hundred and eighty -four wives and one hundred and seventy- six husbands have filed petitions for divorce in the various courts in the city. These lachrymose persons, telling the sins of the defendants upon their finger- ends and praying nightly for relief, throng the courts and press their suits with overwhelming importunity. They have been trouping up during all the months and weeks of the year, pouring a continuous plaint into the ears of patient Justice, and making the high places of chancery ring again with the sometime touching but now rather wearisome tale of misplaced affection and broken vows. This imposing procession, graced by so large a number of virtuous dames and honorable men, has already consumed many years in passing a given point, and there are no signs of the * "Recollections of a Busy Life," by Horace Greeley, pp. 571, 572. 460 FREE LOVE "beginning of tlie end. Fortunately, the present pur- pose lias only particularly to do with that portion of the train upon whose banner is inscribed — as the year of hope, or of deliverance — ^ 1868.' And there are four hundred and sixty men and women, all told. It will be observed by all candid persons, that, in point of magnitude, the above is a very respectable number. It might have been greater, perhaps, without produc- ing any general catastrophe; it might have been somewhat less, without endangering the reputation of the city as the great divorce centre. But, as it stands, it must be regarded as a very creditable exhibit of the industry of those societies who make the business a specialty, and as a substantial monument to the rev- erence for the moral obligations which obtains in the households of Chicago. In . some manner, too, the divorce achievement of 1868 will get to be heralded as another of the manifold wonders in which the enterprise of our people finds expression. It will, doubtless, be assigned a place among the many irre- sistible statistics which are put forth, from time to time, by benevolent citizens for our glory among pos- terity. The fact that the annual divorce record is ignored in the reports by the Board of Trade, by no means involves the conclusion that the value of the figures is not appreciated by that erudite and saga- cious body. Considerations of a purely personal character, which would render its publication distaste- ful to a considerable proportion of its membership, may have been the sole reason for its omission. The work of family dismemberment which is progressing AND ITS VOTARIES. 461 in Chicago will probably suggest forebodings to those eminently well-meaning persons, of a dyspeptic turn, who are predestined to morbid views of things. And it is to be admitted that all the facilities for accom- plishing this purpose which any rational being could ask for, are afforded here with the same liberality which, in so many other respects, characterizes this great metropolis. The details of the year's struggle in this branch of litigation show that, out of four hundred and sixty suits — the whole number brought during the year — two hundred and eighty-four were commenced by wives, and only one hundred and sev- enty-six by husbands, leaving a balance of one hun- dred and seventy-six in favor of the superior enter- prise of the dear creatures. In the matter, too, of obtaining decrees, the wives lead the husbands by one hundred and thirteen cases. They are also ahead in another respect. Forty-one wives were found to have coromitted adultery, while the number of husbands upon the same score was only thirty-nine. In regard to cruelty and drunkenness, the husbands are, of course, greatly in the majority, though it appears, nevertheless, that the gentler sex has not wholly aban- doned the broomstick, and that an unwarrantable de- gree of inebriety has been indulged in by some few members of that highly-esteemed organization. The progress of the divorce epidemic during the year may also be noted with profit. Its greatest ravages oc- curred in June. Both sexes were on the rampage about that time. Prudent persons will mark the month as very dangerous. There were also many vie- 462 FREE LOVE tims of March and October, in tlie case of March, the prevalence of east winds probably contributed greatly as a predisposing cause. In the case of Octo- ber, the excess is mainly due to the fact that about that time many persons are making their domestic arran£:ements for the winter. But these reasons do not hold good as to the month of June. The unusual liability to become a victim to a divorce suit during that month must be left unaccounted for. During the year there has been an increase in the number of divorce suits commenced of one hundred and twenty- two over the number brought in 186Y, and an in- crease in the number of decrees granted of one hun- dred and thirty-two." The West is bad enough in this respect, but the East is not blameless. Some time ago, President Woolsey, of Yale College, published an article on " Divorce in the United States," in which he made a fearful showing of the frequency with which that which was at first designed as a rare and extreme rem- edy, is now used. The article is based upon a careful examination of the statistics of twenty-three States, including nearly all the older ones. The causes of divorce are given in the various reports presented to the Legislatures. In Vermont, out of 571 divorces in ia.ve years, there were for adultery, 164 ; wilful deser- tion, 188 ; desertion, 60 ; intolerable severity, 126 ; for refusal to support, 13 ; with 20 others, in most of which more causes than one are mentioned. In Mas- sachusetts, out of 1,294 divorces granted in about -Q-Ye years, there were for adultery, 546, or 42.3 per cent. ; AND ITS VOTARIES. 463 for clesei'tion, 589, or 45.6 per cent. ; for cruelty, 122, or 9.4 per cent. ; 15 for intemperance, and 21 miscella- neous. In Ohio, out of 2,681 cases, of wMcli tlie causes are particularly assigned, there were granted, for adultery, 935 ; for absence and neglect, 1,030 ; for cruelty, 440 ; for intemperance, 196. Commenting upon this statement, the Baltimore Sun remarks : " Of the origin of the applicants for divorce we have no items furnished to us, save that, in Ohio, the counties where the Catholics form a considerable part of the population fell below their ratio, while the ^Western Reserve counties have a much larger pro- portion of divorces than the rest of the State.' These counties are composed of the Simon Pures of the Puritan stock, and the leaders in all manner of isms. In Vermont, the ratio of annual divorces to annual marriages foots up for seven yeays a total of ^30 divorces to 15,710 marriages, or a ratio of 1 to 21. In Massachusetts, for a period of four years, there was a total of 1,022 divorces to 45,372 marriages — a ratio of 1 to 44. In Ohio, in 1866, the divorces were 1,169, marriages 30,479, or a ratio of 1 to 26. In Connecti- cut, in a period of eight years, the divorces foot up 2,910, marriages 33,227— a ratio of 1 to 11. From Prussia we have some materials for instituting a com- parison between that country of loose divorce laws and the States named above. We exclude the Catho- lic population, which cannot be done with accuracy in the States, and thus the story the tables tell is unfair- ly in favor of the latter. For instance, in Connect!- 464 FREE LOVE cut, Tvhere the whole number of marriages was 4,978 in 1866, tlie marriages in wMcli "botli parties were of foreign birth were 1,208. N^ow, of these it is safe to say that two-thirds — say 800 — were Catholics, who rarely petition for divorce in -that State. Deducting them, we have the ratio of one divorce to less than eight and a half so-called Protestant, or rather non- Catholic, marriages. Prussia, in 1855 : Marriages of non-Catholics, 84,914 ; divorces, 2,937 ; ratio, 1 to 23. These statistics go to show that, bad as the West is in the facilities it affords for divorce, it has received rath- er more than its share of odium. There is a general looseness on this subject in the legislation of most of the States, which is discreditable to us as a civilized people, and inimical to the happiness and virtue of society." I have stated that the law of IN'ew York grants a complete divorce jipon the ground of adultery only. This is the law in several of the other States, but it is by no means a barrier to the Free-Love tendencies of the age. Divorce can be obtained even in New York by citizens of that State, or by citizens of other States, without any such sin being committed by either husband or wife. The manner in which this is done has attracted considerable attention of late, and the newspapers of New York have been engaged in exposing it. I quote here, for the reader's edification, the statements of two of the leading journals of that city. I do this in preference to making any statement of my own, in order that it may be seen that my views are not groundless, and that the looseness to AND ITS VOTARIES. 465 which I have referred prevails even in the State which boasts of its rigid morality in the matter of divorce. {Statement of tJie New York World of Oct 8, 1869.) "THE DIVORCE RING. " Looseness of the Marriage Tie — How Divorces are Obtained — Lawyers of the Ring — ^Working Up a Case — What Such Divorces are Worth — ^The Referee System, &c., &c. "If a large proportion of the marital infelicity now so alarmingly prevalent in the United States is not actually caused by the indefinite application and maladministration of our ever-varying laws of divorce, it is, assuredly, too often tempted thereby into fraud and criminal conspiracy for its earlier relief. Lord Stowell, for fifty years a Judge of Doctors' Commons,, pointedly said : * A knowledge that persons united in marriage must continue husbands and wives, often makes them good husbands and wives ; for necessity is a powerful master to teach the duties it imposes.'' A most demoralizing peculiarity of our national sys- tem of divorce is the discord between the legislative statutes thereof in different States. While in the Middle and a portion of the Eastern and Southern States the conditions legally imposed before a dissolu- tion of marriage can be judicially attained are whole- somely exacting and accordant with a strict Scriptural standard, in certain of the Southern, and even Eastern States, the most trifling asserted causes of disagree- ment, or * incompatibility,' are sufficient to secure the law's disseverance of the marriage tie. The divorce 30 4cQQ FREE LOVE business of courts in Illinois and Indiana enjoys an infamous notoriety all over the world; wHle even staid old Connecticut offers a positive reward to con- nubial infidelity by at once granting full divorce upon comparatively sliglit pretexts, and leaving botb par- ties legally free to marry again as tlieir altered fancies may choose. He wlio in New York * reads the marriage act with pride, And fancies that the law is on his side,' may soon be taught, to his dismay, that some back- woods court at the West has privately given his art- ful better-half a divorce, and authorized her to wed, at her earliest pleasure, with the Lothario whom he (the off-cast husband) had not yet begun to suspect of treachery. Or, again, the lord and master whose preference has wandered from his lawful wife to some designing female poacher on her rightful domain, may openly give that wife the fullest justification in law for a- New York divorce, and, after the latter shall have been decreed, go with his paramom' to any town in Connecticut along the line of the nearest railroad, and there be legally joined to her for whom he has foresworn himself. One might infer from these dan- gerous and disgraceful possibilities that but few of the married ones who, from whatever cause, were dis- contented with their domestic relations, would be long restrained, by any other than the highest exceptional moral considerations, from availing themselves of the relief so variously attainable. It must be borne in mind, however, that an honorable action for divorce, openly and honestly undertaken in any State, involves AND ITS VOTARIES. 467 more or less harrowing public exposure of tlie holiest sanctities of life, and an amount of pecuniary outlay wMcli few average pockets can well endure. In a suit conducted as the just spirit of the law designs, there must be some outgiving of the sorest facts to public .notice — if no more than the name of the case and the ground of action ; and it is scarcely in the nature of plaintiff's lawyer to allow the various ' ser- vices,' ' motions,' ^ applications,' &c., of said suit, to be ended within a shorter time than from twelve to eighteen months, or to cost less than from five hun- dred to three thousand dollars. These two considera- tions, then, in the present lax tendencies of our di- vorce laws, constitute the chief bar against a whole- sale * popular ' adoption of the legal Temedy for do- mestic troubles ; and their potency has invoked a class of fraudulent practitioners, whose insidious bu-siness it is to procure a -dissolution of marriage for any or no cause, * without publicity,' and at a cost suited to the most limited means. In other words, New York is the headquarters of a villanous and powerful Divorce ^ Ring,' by the audaciously fraudulent practices of which the solemn marital covenant is made a despised and brittle toy of the law — to be broken and discard- ed at the will of the vicious and depraved. The LAWYEES OF THE ^EmO-' are the pariahs of their profession — men who have been disbarred in other States (sometimes in other countries) for detected malpractice ; men who began life fairly, but sank to ignominy through dissipation 468 FREE LOVE political failure, or natural vicious tendencies; men, even, wlio never opened a law-book before entering upon their present avocation, but gleaned a practical knowledge of tke legal alternative of ' wedded woe ' by a course of training in tlie private detective's trade. These latter worthies often hire the use of practising lawyers' names. Occasionally they hire the said law- yers themselves to go through the mummeries of the courts for them ; and we could name one of our most eloquent and respectable criminal pleaders who, on a certain occasion at least, permitted himself to be nomi- nally associated with one of the boldest operators of the * King.' These sinister traders in domestic infamy, secret libel, and suborned perjury, announce their business and addresses by means of advertisements which on their faces give proof of deliberate fraud. In public print they inform their would-be patrons that * success is guaranteed ; ' that ' no fee is required until the decree of divorce is secured ; ' that intemper- ance, desertion, &c., ^ is a sufficient cause ; ' that there shall be ^ no publicity ; ' and that the decree procured shall be ^ good in every State.' No particular knowl- edge of any law is requisite to teach that a practice thus announced is rife with iniquity; nor do those who answer the bait believe that any honest or legiti- mate process is intended. "the dens of the divoecees are situated chiefly on the thoroughfares most affected by lawyers of the highest caste, though even Broad- AND ITS VOTARIES. 469 way is not wholly exempt from them; and Wall street, Pine street, and especially Nassau street, eon- tain a goodly number each. Without any ostenta- tious display of signs or identifications, they are gen- erally furnished in the common law-office style, with substantial desks and chairs, shelves of law-books, and usually a shady private apartment for consulta- tions. Sometimes the name upon the ^ directory ' of the building and name over the ^ office ' itself will be spelled diffi3rently, though conveying the same sound ; as though the proprietor thereof might have occasional use for a confusion of personalities. Along the stairs and hallways leading to these dens, at almost any hour of the day from 10 a. m. to 3 p. m., may be met women in flashy finery and men with hats drawn down over their eyes — all manifestly gravitating, with more or less shamefacedness, towards the places in question. They may be dissolute actresses, seeking a spurious appearance of law to end an old alliance and prepare for a new one. They may be the frivolous, extravagant, reckless wives of poor clerks or hard- working mechanics, infatuatedly following out the first consequences of a matinee at the theatre and a ^ Personal ' in the Herald. They may be the worth- less husbands of unsuspecting, faithful wives, who, by sickness, or some other unwitting provocation, have turned the unstable husbandly mind to thoughts of connubial pastures new and the advertising divorcers. They may be the ' lovers ' of married women, who come to engage fabricated testimony and surreptitious unmarriage for the frail creatures whose virtue is still 470 FREE LOVE too cowardly to dare the more honest sin. They are not the wronged partners of marriage, who, by the mysterious chastising providence of outraged hearths and homes, are compelled, in bitterest agony of sonl, to invoke justice of the law for the honor based upon right and religion. "the manufactuee of ^a case' by the contrabandists of divorce is often such a mar- vel of unscrupulous audacity that its very lawlessness constitutes in itself a kind of legal security. So wholly does it ignore all the conventionalities of mere legal evasion, as to virtually lapse into a barbarism, knowing neither law nor civilization. A young woman in flaunting jockey hat, extravagant ^ chig- non,' and gaudy dress, flirts into the den, and turns a bold, half-defiant face upon the rakish masculine fig- ure at the principal desk. The figure looks np, a glance between the two tells the story, and the woman is invited to step into the consulting-room (if there be one), and give her husband's name and offence. A divorce will cost her say twenty-five, or fifty, or seventy-five dollars — in fact, whatever sum she can afford to pay for such a trifle. She can have it obtained for her in New York, or at the West, just as her husband's likelihood to pry into things, or her own taste in the matter, may render advisable. Not a word of the case can possibly get into the papers in either locality. She can charge ^ intemperance,' or * desertion,' or ^failure to support,' or whatever else AND ITS VOTAHIES. 471 she cliooses ; "but, perhaps, it would be better to make it adultery, as -that can be just as easily proved, and * holds good in any State.' This point being decided, the young woman can go home, and there keep her luckless wretch of a husband properly In the dark until her * decree ' is ready for her. If the applicant is a man, the work is all the easier ; for then even less art will be required to keep the unconscious ^ party of the second part ' in ignorance of the proceedings. The case is now quietly jDut on record in the proper court (if the ^ suit ' is. to be ^ tried ' in ]N"ew York), and a * summons ' prepared for service upon the ^ defendant.' To serve this summons any idle boy is called in from the street, and directed to take the paper to defend- ant's residence or place of business, and there serve it upon him. Away goes the boy, willing enough to earn fifty cents by this easy task, and is met upon the stoop of the residence, or before the door of the place of business, by a confederate of the divorce-lawyer, who sharply asks what he wants. ^ I want t© see Mr. ,' says the boy. ' I am Mr. ,' returns the confederate, who is thereupon served with the summons. Back hurries the boy to the law-office, signs an affidavit that he has served the paper upoti defendant in person, is j)aid for the job, and goes about his business. The time selected for the ma- noeuvre is, of course, adapted to what the ^ plaintiff ' has revealed of her husband's hours for home or for business; and, after the improvised server of the ^ summons ' has once sworn to his affidavit and disap- peared, there is no such thing as ever finding him 472 FREE LOVE again ! A ^ copy of the complaint ' is * served ' in tlie same way ; or, the ^ summons ' is published once a week for a month in the smallest type of the smallest obscure weekly paper to be found. This latter de- vice, however, is adopted only when the plaintiff (having some moral scruples about too much perjury at once) charges ^ desertion,' and desires to appear quite ignorant of unnatural defendant's present place of abode. If, for any particular reason, the party seeking a divorce prefers A WESTEEN DECEEE, the ^ lawyer,' or a clerk of his, starts at once for In- diana, or some quiet county of Illinois ; and, after hiring a room in some tavern or farm-house in the name of his client (to establish the requisite fact of residence 1), gives the case into the hands of a local attorney with whom he has a business partnership. This Western branch of the trade has reached such license, that, not long ago, a notorious practitioner of the Eing actually issued an advertisement in a paper of ISTew York, to the effect that he had just returned to this city from the West with a fresh stock of blank divorces! The wording was not literally thus, but such was its obvious and only signification. Whether the ' trial ' is to take place in New York or Indiana, however, there is but one system commonly adopted in offering proof of the truth of the complaint upon which a divorce is demanded. Plaintiff's villanous AND ITS VOTARIES. 471^ attorney, after waiting a due length of time for some response from the defendant in the case (!), asks of the Court, as privately as possible, THE APPOINTMENT OF A EEFEEEE. " His Honor the Court, upon learning that * de- fendant' does not oppose (of course not !), names a referee, vrho shall hear the testimony in the case, and submit a copy thereof, together with his decision thereon, to the Court for confirmation. Then, before the referee — ^who is to be properly feed for his officia- tion — go the divorce-lawyer and two or three shabby- genteel-looMng ^ witnesses,' who from thenceforth shall never be findable by mortal man again. The * wit- nesses ' swear to any thing and eyerj thing — that they have seen and recognized defendant in highly improp- er houses with improper persons ; that they know plaintiff to be pure, faithful, and shamefully misused in the marriage relation, &c., &c. As ^ defendant,' not even aware that he or she is a ^ defendant,' makes no appearance, either in person or by counsel, to combat this dreadful evidence, the referee must, of course, render decision for plaintiff — ^ the law awards it, and the court doth give it.' The judge subsequently confirms this decision ; a decree of full divorce is granted, in due and full legal form^ to the triumphant plaintiff; and the 'defendant' is likely to become aware of the suit for the first time on that night. As the whole business has been an unblushing fraud upon the law, the question is. 474 FEEE LOVE " WHAT ARE SUCH DIVOECES WORTH ? " We answer, that not one of them Las ever yet held good when ultimately contested in open court by the parties against whom they had been secretly ob- tained. Many of them, however — perhaps thousands! — have served the whole purpose of those purchasing them, because the husbands or wives so cruelly wronged and belied by them have either lacked the means or the heart to take proper and public legal measures for their setting-aside. How is the poor clerk or mechanic, the invalid or unfriended wife, to raise the hundreds — ^perhaps thousands — of dollars necessary for such a purpose ? * Domestic happiness, That ouly bliss of Paradise which has survived the Fall,* when once perverted to such a depth and darkness of cunning treachery as this, leaves the betrayed with very little courage to cover its poor grave with the ostentatious monument of legal justice. Retribution through the courts could not reclaim the unworthy husband or wife who had stooped to such wickedness for a longer license in vice ; it could not heal the hearts made desolate by such coarse, cowardly trea- son ; and it would cost more than slender purses can afford. And would it BRING THE " RING " TO JUSTICE ? " It is a sad commentary upon the popular esti- mate of a high judiciary, that this question challenges AND ITS VOTARIES. 475 serious debate. A citizen of Ifew York, whose mis- ' guided wife had secretly obtained a fraudulent di- vorce from him through such practice as we have de- scribed, and who, in turn, had successfully sued in the legitimate way for the dissolution of marriage thus forced upon him, sought to induce his legal adviser, a veteran metropolitan lawyer of the highest standing, to expose the infamous divorce 'King' before the courts, and demand, in behalf of his profession, that • its practitioners should be at least disbarred. The response was, that the courts were presumed to be entirely ignorant of the fraudulent parts of the pro- ceedings referred to ; that the offenders could be ' cor- nered' only through a specific case in point against them; and, besides, that the referees in their cases were nearly all connected, either consanguinely or in bonds of partnership interest, with the judges who had appointed them, and before whom the motion for disbarment would probably come ! For this last cu- rious reason no lawyer could, consistently with his own best interests, inaugurate a movement likely to involve the whole referee system in its retributive effects. A lawyer so doing might, when arguing future cases in court, find a certain apparent disposi- tion of the Bench to show him less courtesy than on former occasions — to snub him, in fact, and thereby permanently prejudice his professional future likeli- hoods in that jurisdiction ! We refrain from com- ment upon this idea, leaving its justice or error to be discerned by the reader, according to his own percep tion of probabilities. The object of this article is 476 FREE LOVE simply to expose a class of unscrupulous legal adven- ^ turers, tlirougli whose audacious trickeries with the law such a case as that of Nichols vs, Nichols (report- ed in the World of Friday, October 1) is possible. Thus it is that a husband may believe his wife to be pleasantly enjoying a visit to her Mends, while she is really obtaining from his and society's enemies a 'decree' that shall make her his wife no longer. Thus it is that he could wake up some morning and find himself divorced and legally enjoined to future "* Solitude, 'while she' (to adopt the exact words of Churchill's conclusion to his poem of ' Gotham ') ' While she, secured in liberty/ and lawy Found what she sought — a saviour in Nassau.* (Statement of the New Yorh Herald, Dec. 23, 1869.) "MAREIAGE DESECRATION. "Law and Deceucy Set at Defiance — The Divorce Jugglers of New Ybrk — Divorces Procured at Short Notice — How Evidence is Manufactured by Professional Perjurers. "Much has been written concerning the loose divorce laws of Indiana, Illinois, and Connecticut, and it is generally supposed that those States offer facili- ties for severing the marriage relation which can be found in no other section. The statutes of this State refusing -divorces except for the crime of adultery, it would seem that New York should be the last place in which a person would apply for divorce on trivial grounds of complaint, and there is a popular idea that, with all the evils which society suffers in this city, the divorce business has not attained a foothold AND ITS VOTARIES. 477 here. This impression is very erroneous. Tlie ac- commodations afforded at Western railway stations, where trains are said to stop fifteen minutes for di- vorces, are equalled, if not surpassed, in this respect in New York ; and any married man or vroman who discovers a new affinity, can here be cut loose from a matrimonial partner in the most expeditious manner. It is not necessary for the applicant for divorce to en- dure the disagreeable notoriety of publicly prosecut- ing his case, nor for him to even await the usually tardy process of the courts in such cases. Indeed, the applicant need not appear personally in the case at all, and, if ]^e prefers it and has the money to pay the fee demanded, he may simply state his wishes to the procurer, who will himself make out a complaint, manufacture the necessary affidavits, push the case through the court, and forward the applicant a decree of divorce in an incredibly short period. " There is probably no more complete system of fraud and outrage in existence than some of the divorce-procuring concerns of this city. It is not to be inferred that every lawyer who is particularly suc- cessful in procuring divorces is a knave ; for respecta- ble attorneys are very careful how they proceed in such cases, and do not take them without good evi- dence of the truthfulness of the complaint made by the applicant. But there is a class of men who make a regular business of procuring divorces, who keep about them a retinue of professional perjurers to manufacture evidence, and who will get .a decree of divorce for any person at short notice. Not only are 478 ' FREE LOVE false affidavits made out, but judicial signatures are forged, and, in nine cases out of ten, tlie credulous ap- plicant receives for liis money a decree of divorce wMcli will not stand a moment v^hen disputed by regular legal proceedings. Scarcely a day passes without the publication of suits setting aside sucb fraudulent divorces ; but these form a very small por- tion of the divorces obtained by manufactured affida- vits, as the defendant generally submits, and quietly procures a divorce also, in preference to making a fight, unless money or the possession of children is involved. The divorce-procurer does not care whether the decree be valid or not. He agrees to get a decree for a certain sum of money, and does not trouble him- self about subsequent counter-proceedings unless there is a chance for another fee. Should there be an inves- tigation, the parties represented as witnesses in the affidavits can never be found, for the signatures are all bogus, and the defendant must content himself with getting the decree set aside, without the satisfaction of punishing the perpetrators of the outrage. " There is one class of applicants, however, who are always furnished by the procurer with a genuine divorce. This includes married persons who may be still living together, and whose position in society is such as to make it certain that the defendant would contest a divorce decree unless based upon positive and genuine evidence of adultery. Such parties, if living in New York, generally insist upon having a divorce in conformity with the laws of the State, and are willing to pay the procurer a sum sufficiently large AND ITS VOTARIES. 479 to induce him to work up tlie case in an elaborate and perfect manner. Two illustrations will suffice to sliow tlie exact nature of this class, and the means employed by the procurer in obtaining a valid divorce. "First is the husband who is convinced of his wife's infidelity, but has no positive evidence of crimi- nality on her part, and applies to the procurer to make a free man of him. The procurer details detec- tives, who are always kept at hand for such cases, to watch the suspected wife; and, finally, if the hus- band's suspicions' are just, the guilty pair are caught in flagrante delictu. If, however, the woman be only indiscreet, and is simply flirting, the detectives are pre- pared to swear that they witnessed criminal conduct on her part, and will ingeniously manufacture, out of circumstances favoring suspicion, positive affidavits of guilt impossible to disprove in court. There is no doubt that many cases have occurred where a jealous husband has been divorced upon the conviction of his wife of adulteiy when she was perfectly innocent, the procurer perpetrating this outrage upon both parties merely to make his fee. " Next is the wife who desires a divorce, but has no grounds of suspicion that her husband is unfaith- ful. She may be in love with another man, or may have no other reason for separation than the ordinary troubles of the married state. She communicates with a divorce-procurer, and, if prepared to pay hand- somely, is assured that the divorce will be obtained. The unsuspecting husband may be perfectly upright in his conduct, and so respectable in all his associa- 480 FREE LOVE tions, that no suspicious circumstances can be discov- ered to weave into evidence of adultery, and the pro- curer sends a fascinating woman to entrap him. She is beautiful, accomplished, and apparently a very para- gon of propriety. She plays her game with consum- mate adroitness, and, sooner or later, involves the man in a train of circumstances which enable the procurer to convict him of adultery. The decree of divorce is issued by the court, and the unfortunate husband is left to pay the bills and meditate upon the baseness of mankind. " These cases are among the least villanous opera- tions of the regular divorce-procurer, and divorces thus obtained cannot be set aside. Fortunately, they are comparatively few in number ; but the other class of divorces includes innumerable cases, and involves a complete system of perjury and forgery from begin- ning to end. To illustrate : " Mrs. John Smith, residing in New York, writes to the divorce-procurer that her husband has ill-treated her, that she suspects him of adultery, and that she wants a divorce. The procurer replies that, if she will forward a formal complaint, accompanied by a certain sum of money, and pay another amount upon the divorce being obtained, her wishes shall be grati- fied, l^ext mail brings the complaint to the procurer, who calls in his professional perjurers, and acquaints them with the contents of the complaint. If, how- ever, it is not strong enough, the procurer makes out another, forges the signature of Mrs. Smith, and, en- closing the new complaint in a document signed with AND ITS VOTARIES. 481 a bogus name as plaintiff's attorney, sends it to the referee appointed by the Court to take testimony in divorce suits. The law requires that the defendant shall be summoned to appear; and, to get over this difficulty, the procurer fills out the following form of affidavit, and attaches to it a bogus name : " ' Superior Court of the City of New TorTc. , being duly sworn, says that on the — day of deponent served the annexed summons on , the defendant in this action, by delivering to and leaving with said defendant, , personally, a true copy of said annexed summons, at , in the city of , deponent knowing the person on whom he served the summons as aforesaid to be the defendant in this action. u « " ' Sworn to before me, this — day of . "The following is the form of summons above referred to, and which, of course, is never served upon the defendant : " ' , Plaintiff, against , Defendant. " * Summons for relief. " « To : " * You 'are hereby summoned and required to answer the complaint in this action, which will be filed in the. office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of the city of New York, at the City Hall, New York ; and to serve a copy of your answer to said complaint on the subscriber, at his ofiBce, No. , within twenty days after the serving of this summons on you, exclusive of the day of service ; and if you fail to answer to the said complaint within the time afore- said, the plaintiff in this action will apply to the Court for the relief demanded in the complaint. 1 " ' Plaintiff's Attornei/. «« ' Dated, , .' "The signature as plaintiff's attorney is also bogus in this case, and the preliminary documents thus man- ufactured having been sent to the referee, the hired 31 482 FREE LOVE tools of the procurer go before the referee to give evi- dence. Eacli perjurer gives a bogus name to tlie ref- eree, and has a slip of paper inside his hat bearing the "dates mentioned in the complaint, so as to make no mistakes. As he makes his statement, he keeps an eye on the memorandum in his hat, and is thus ena- bled to tell a straight story. Three or four of such rascals having made affidavits corresponding with the complaint, the referee, who, perhaps, may be acting in good faith, sums up the evidence with a recommenda- tion, and the case goes to the Court, when, the defend- ant not appearing, the decree of divorce is immediate- ly issued. Before any record is made of the decree, the procurer makes sure of his fee, and then forwards the decree to the complainant, who knows nothing of the details of the suit. In some cases the divorce pro- ceedings are not placed on record at all, unless the applicant for divorce personally attends to it. Thus, in less than a month, Mrs. Smith gets her divorce, and imagines that she is perfectly free ; but if the hus- band, upon discovering the affair, makes an appeal, he will have very little difficulty in getting the decree set aside. The bogus witnesses, however, cannot be found, and if the divorce-procurer is required to pro- duce them, he can manufacture just as many affidavits as he may need to relieve himself from the dilemma. The witnesses give some boarding-house as their place of residence, and, as it is impossible for the proprie- tors of such places to always remember the names of their boarders, there is not much probability of the fraud being proved to its fullest extent. AND ITS VOTARIES. 483 " But there is still a more profound deptli of vil* lany into wMcli some of these procurers dive. Where applications for divorce are based upon complaints of abandonment or cruel treatment, H is necessary to get the decree from some court in Connecticut, Indiana, or Illinois. Chicago is the favorite place for such opera- tions, although Indianapolis and New Haven are ex- tensively patronized. A party in New Jersey apply- ing to a New York procurer for a divorce, must have the evidence taken before a New Jersey referee. The jDrocurer in this instance not only manufactures bogus affidavits, but concocts a bogus referee's report, and forwards to New Haven, Chicago, and Indianapolis a mass of documents which do not contain a single gen- uine signature except that of the complainant. By means of similar trickery, the court before which the case comes up is satisfied of the reliability of the doc- uments, and a decree is issued divorcing parties who may never have been in the State where the divorce is granted. A messenger is generally sent to New Ha- ven with the documents, but those going to Indianap- olis and Chicago are forwarded by mail, unless pecu- liar circumstances make it necessary to personally engineer the case. " As before stated, in many instances of divorces thus fraudulently obtained the defendant may have been guilty, and, consequently, does not contest the matter ; but if some of these cases were to be ener- getically investigated, it would reveal a system of fraud and perjury of astounding magnitude. There are very recent cases that can be cited where all the 484 FREE LOVE villanies above mentioned were committed, and di- vorce documents are being almost daily manufactured for parties living in different parts of the Union, wLicli would send their authors to the State Prison at short notice." It is not enough to say that these things are ille- gal. Public opinion tolerates them ; and no effort is made to put a stop to them. The depreciation of marriage goes on daily, and Free Love is daily gain- ing ground in society. Men and women are ceasing to recognize the restraints of marriage, now that they can be thrown off at pleasure. This is fast becoming the rule ; and it needs only a glance at the luxurious offices of the divorce-lawyers of New York and Chica- go to show how these vultures prosper in their illegal traffic. The moral tone of the country has been so lowered, that it requires scarcely an effort to break the marriage relation. The laws of those States which allow divorce only upon the ground of adultery are of little or no practical value, as we have seen, since divorces can be obtained even in those States by a systematic course of fraud. Oftentimes it is necessaiy to go but a day's journey, often only a few miles, to obtain a separation valid in law ; and since the Fed- eral Constitution requires that each State shall give full faith and credit to the acts of each and all the others, it is still a question in the minds of many able jurists, whether the State of New York is not bound to recognize the validity of an Indiana divorce. AND ITS VOTARIES. 485 Let US verify the statements already made, by the recital of some actual occurrences. A few years ago, a young man living in an inland town seduced a girl of respectable but Humble family, and by her had a child. The matter was kept secret up to the moment of the confinement of the girl. The young man's father was proud and wealthy, but his notions of honor would not allow him to pass over the scandalous afikir. He compelled his son to marry the girl, and thus repair the wrong he had done her. She was no companion for his son, however, and, after making a comfortable settlement upon his low-born daughter, he sent the young man away, and in a year or two succeeded in freeing him from his bride by an Indiana divorce. The girl had committed no fault since her marriage, and the ground upon which the divorce was gained involved no indiscretion whatever upon her part. Not long since, a divorce was granted by a New York court under the following circumstances : A married couple of wealth and position had been liv- ing together for a few years in great happiness. At the end of this time the wife transferred her affections from her liege lord to a " man of the world," as he is styled. It is not certain whether these parties were guilty of any criminal conduct during their " court- ship," as they styled their conspiracy, but the circum- stances warrant the belief that they were. It is cer- tain, however, that the man, having seduced the wife's affections from her husband, induced her to bring an action for divorce against him, in order that he (the 486 FREE LOVE seducer) miglit maiTy her himself. The suit was "brought, but it was carefully kept from the knowl- edo-e of the husband, to whom the wife professed the most unbounded devotion. She drew sums of money from him on various pretences, 'and spent them in counsel-fees. As the law of New York grants divorce only for adultery, a bogus case was made. 'No notice was served upon the husband, and he naturally failed to put in an appearance when the case was called in court. He was in total ignorance of the whole affair, and believed that he possessed his wife's undivided affections. The appeal of the wife for separation was based upon a charge of adultery upon the part of her husband. False witnesses, who afterwards confessed that they were paid for their perjury, swore to the facts set forth in the wife's petition, and the case was so thoroughly sustained by perjury, that the court was utterly deceived, and the divorce was granted. The seducer and his accomplice were immediately " married." The injured husband's first intimation of his wrong was a notice of the divorce and the " re- marriage " of his wife. It was too late to take per- sonal vengeance upon the guilty pair, for they had sailed for Europe. He at once set to work to unearth the conspiracy of which he had been the victim, and succeeded in doing so. When the facts were laid be- fore the court which had granted the divorce, the de- cree was revoked, and the whole infamous plot laid before the public. The guilt of the lawyer who had conducted the case for the wife was clearly shown ; but the court, while doing justice to the husband, did AND ITS VOTARIES. 487 not have tlie independence to vindicate its own dig- nity by striking the scoundi^ePs name from its rolls. A case somewhat similar occurred recently in a Chicago court. Some attorneys came forward and asked that a wife might be divorced from her hus- band. The husband appeared in couii:, and expressed his entire ignorance of the cause of such proceedings. He said his wife was in Europe, travelling at his ex- pense ; that he w^as in receipt regularly, by mail, of warm and endearing letters from her; that he had never had the slightest difficulty with her since their marriage ; and that he did not believe that his wife was proceeding in the case of her own free will. He asked that the court would issue an order compelling the attorneys professing to act for his wife to show by whose authority they were prosecuting the suit. To this request the attorneys demurred. They said it was none of the defendant's business, and intimated that all he had to do was to furnish the money wherewith to cany on the suit, and accept the humili- ation of a husband who has fallen into the meshes of a Chicago divorce-court. Fortunately, there was an honest judge on the bench at the time — Judge Mc- Allister — who could not find it in him to sanction such knavery. To the utter confusion of the damna- ble pettifoggers who professed to represent the wife, he ordered a stay in the proceedings, until the wife could return from Europe and bring the action in her own name. A few months ago, a sad case came before a judge of one of the courts of Washington City. Mrs. 488 FREE LOVE appeared in court and entered a complaint against lier husband. "It appears," says tlie New York World, in commenting upon tlie case, " that she had been a faithful wife to ■ , and had borne to him ^YQ children, the eldest of which is still living, while three of the others died soon after their birth. She avers that her husband ceased to cohabit with her last November ; that he has often solicited her consent to a divorce, in order that he might marry her sister, which request she has refused ; and that he has conse- quently declared that he intends to seek a State where he can obtain a divorce from her. Therefore she asks that, pending a restitution of her conjugal rights and alimony, an order may be issued in the form of a writ of ne exeat, to restrain him from leaving the District of Columbia without giving bonds to answer the re- sult of this suit. And Judge Olin granted the order. " On the side of , a letter is produced, ad- dressed by him to his wife in Washington, August 8, 1868. In this' letter, which is carefully and affection- ately worded throughout, the husband calls the wife's attention to her feeble health and a physical idiosyn- crasy which had unfitted her for the connubial rela- tion. He asks her to consider the early death of their offspring, his fondness for children, and his situation and temptations as a man " married in name though not in fact." And he makes of these matters an ex- cuse for his proposal that she shall consent to a divorce, and to his marriage with her sister, w^ho has long been a member of the household. "Though the logic of this letter is singularly AND ITS VOTARIES. 489 slirewd and plausible, and tliougli tlie woman wlio brouglit the letter into court and let it into print may have entitled herself, by such an indiscretion, to small sympathy, the defect in 's plea ought not to pass public muster unobserved. If marriage is indeed — as in Christian communities it is held to be — a sacred compact, then nothing short of infidelity, or, at the most, incompatibility of character or temper, on the part of a wife who has proved herself in truth a wife, can justify a husband in demanding a divorce. They who enter into marriage take each other for bet- ter, for worse. If misfortune — not merely poverty, or other loss of worldly circumstance, even the misfor- tune of a decay of health — befall, the compact, ac- cording to its letter and spirit, according to the high- est, best conception of a marriage between man and woman, must still hold. In the present instance, it is admitted on both sides that Mrs. had been a wife, had borne her husband children, and retained, at the time when his letter was written, his affection and respect. Can the claim of this would-be Mohamme- dan to assert a selfish personal desire, in place of the pure and unselfish devotion to which he had pledged himself at the outset, now be tolerated on account of her utterly helpless misfortune ? Is it to be admitted, either in this man's interest or in the interest of soci- ety at large, that even the legal marriage-bond may have no better security than the longevity of what this husband in his letter chiefly pleads for ? " I have already related, upon the authority of Mr. Greeley, the incident in which an Eastern merchant 490 FREE LOVE obtained a divorce from his first wife tnrougli an In- diana com-t, and married a new wife, his first partner being in total ignorance of the whole affair until she was unceremonio.usly turned out of what she had until then considered her home. The following instance, which is the most innocent use made of the Indiana divorce laws, the waiter has seen, yet shows how the marriage relation can be trifled with and deprived of its moral force. A widow lady living near New Albany held property from her deceased husband, which she might transfer while she remained single, but which, according to the will, she could not dispose of if she married a second time. With rash disinterestedness she did reenter the bonds of Hymen, and, being inclined of late to trans- fer the property of husband 'No, 1, found herself, of course, inhibited therefrom by the terms upon which it had been bequeathed to her. A consultation with an eminent lawyer ensued, and an amusing little household-game was arranged. The excellent lad}^ and her second liege lord were to quarrel and fight every day for a certain period of time, in the presence of the children of the former, and said astonished oft'- spring were to believe that the quarrelling and fight- ing were genuine, not feigned. Then the husband was to apply for a divorce on the plea of " incompati- bility," the wife admitting the fact, and her children swearing to the violences they had witnessed. Pleas- ing to relate, this whole programme was capitally per- formed, and, after a trial of the culminating suit be- fore his Honor Judge Bicknell, the court granted a AND ITS VOTARIES. 491 divorce to the applicant. By this simple process the wife was made a single woman once more, and quali- fied to transfer the property as she had desired. The transfer was made within an hour (to husband No. 2, probably), and within another half hour the divorced couple were remarried. Cases such as those given above are happening every day in almost every part of the country. For- merly, the knowledge that the marriage relation was permanent was thought to do much towards making good husbands and wives ; but now, the knowledge that it is one which can be dissolved at pleasure, is calculated to make very unworthy ones. People mar- ry recklessly, and abandon their partners whenever some new fancy arouses their passions. They feel that, as long as the loose system of divorce which pre- vails is allowed to continue, they need not remain faithful to their marriage vows. This state of affairs is very sad. It is not half so dangerous to the few individuals who are wronged by it, as to the country whose moral tone is lowered by it. Public sentiment must be very low indeed where such 'a system is allowed to prevail. That we do not overestimate the importance of this evil, will be plain to any reader who will reflect that the popular disregard for marriage has kept pace with the growth of the Free-Love sentiment in the country, and that both have increased in proportion to the spread of immorality. Because Free-Love ex- periments are failing when tried in organized commu- nities, because they are there producing the most dam- 492 FREE LOVE nable evils, shall we sLut our eyes to the dangers of the hour? The principle is far more disastrous in society at large than at Oneida, at Berlin Heights, or any of the other Free-Love hells of the country. It is a matter which merits the attention of every man in the land. But, much as the men are interested in it, it is a still more important issue with women. The history of the world shows, if it teaches any lesson at all, that, the more men have regarded the obligations of the married state, the higher they have exalted the institution itself, the higher, nobler, and more digni- fied has been the position of woman. She has risen with Christian marrias^e. It has been her strono-est defence, her greatest safeguard. Yet the mob of dis- contented women and men who call themselves the Woman-Suffrage Party, and who profess to be labor- ing for the elevation of woman to a still nobler and higher position, join hands with the Free-Love party, and strike their hardest blows at the institution of Christian marriage. They would destroy the institu- tion to which woman owes her present position. A most insane attempt, truly, but one which is none the less dangerous. They would do away with the great- est power woman now possesses,, in the foolish hope that, in the chaos that must follow such a destruction, woman will rise to a still higher position. Says The Universe^ a leading Woman-Suffrage, Free-Love, Spir- itualist, and infidel journal : " It should be distinctly known by those who favor the cause of woman, that a social reconstruction is involved — that, in the grant- AND ITS VOTARIES. 493 ing of * woman suffrage' — to accept the fetrong lan- guage of a distinguislied clergyman, who for this rea- son is opposed thereto — Hhe knife will be placed at the throat of the present legal marriage-system. Those who would preserve this system inviolate^ as the keystone in the arch of social safety, should un- derstand this. That system, it is claimed, has heen weighed in the balance and found wanting. If the claim be not well-founded, let the allegation be dis- proved. Let the whole thing be unveiled — all its de- formities and all its virtues — all its basest and its highest uses — all the diseases, discordances, agonies, and crimes affecting its victims, and transmitted through inexorable laws to posterity, contrasted with whatever good it may have done, whatever it may be doing, or may hereafter do." One of this Female-Suffrage party, Ellen Storge by name, writes to the Waman^s Advocate^ published at Dayton, Ohio, to propose the following " recon- structed social platform," which is a fair specimen of the desires of the Woman Reformers : " 1. Let the marriage contract be limited to from one to three years, at the option of the contracting parties. " 2. Discard the erroneous idea that this contract is Divine. Admit that this is but a human transac- tion, intended to perpetuate the species and produce human happiness. " 3. Make both parties equal. Do not exact spe- cial promises or terms from one sex, to its disadvan- tage and the advantage of the other. Exact pledges 494 FREE LOVE of mutual fidelity and cooperation during continuance of tlie marital contract ; but let love alone. Love is a sensitive, spontaneous outgrowth of tlie heart, sub- ject to the control of treatment and circumstances rather than formal promises ; it is too tender^ too sacred, for the public gaze. " 4. Let the marriage contract embrace the contin- gency of issue, with full and unequivocal provision therefor. If one child, let its custody devolve by vn'itten and recorded agreement, void during cover- ture ; if two or more children, the same, or division by such agreement, provided that the party refusing to renew the expired contract at the instance of the other party, or the offender in case of premature an- nulment, shall be compelled to maintain the offspring and be the custodian thereof, at the option of the opposite party. " 5. Enact just laws for the determination of all such contingencies as might arise under this new order of things. Make them applicable only to those now unmarried. Let there be no ex post facto taint about the matter. During coverture, as also in the event of non-renewal of the contract, let each party control its own finances. Of that they shall have together amassed, let there be an equal division."" These changes, Ellen Storge claims, will ennoble marriage. The reader may form his own opinion; but, supposing him to be a man of average feeling, we simply ask how he would like to see his own home reconstructed on such principles ? The danger can be met, and it ought to be met. A^^D ITS VOTARIES. 495 Those wlio value public and private morality, tliose wlio value domestic purity and happiness, those who value Christianity, those who value simple decency, should set their faces sternly against any and all such persons, whether they come as individuals or as organ- ized parties, whether such individuals are nominally ministers of the gospel, or avowed Free Lovers, and whether such parties advocate Woman Suffrage, or any other kindred " ism." It will require but a cur- sory glance to find that the Woman-Suffrage party, the Free-Love party, the Spiritualist party, the Infidel party, are all one and the same organization. It is therefore a political and religious duty with every man to oppose any and all these organizations. The triumph of one means the triumph of all. All admit that the marriage relation is the first as well as the strongest obstacle in their way, and all unite in mak- ing it the object of their first attack. The common bond which unites them is their abominable desire to give free rein to their licentiousness ; which is impos- sible as long as society holds to its present sense of morality. The inauguration of the era of Free Love for w^hich they are working so energetically would give them the liberty they desire. Let us look to it that they do not succeed. APPENDIX 32 -k APPENDIX A EECENT num'ber of Woodhull & Olafliii's Weehly^ a journal puMished in tlie City of New York, makes the following candid confession with respect to the real objects of the Woman Snfirage Party. It is so impor- tant an admission, and covers the whole ground so well, that I have decided to append it here, in support of what I have already urged in these pages : " Whatever may be said to the contrary by the advocates of woman's rights, the true tendency and ultimate end of that movement is to very materially change, if not entirely destroy, the present marriage system. Devotion to any one pursuit for any consid- erable time implies, an understanding of its principles and purposes. This being as true of reform as of any other occupation, such an assertion as the above is un- necessary to the leaders in that work or to those act- ively engaged in it. They Icnow it ; although many of them choose for politic reasons to deny the fact. -» * * * g^^ ^^^^ |}^g jjjQg^ prominent and intelli- gent leaders know this fact and ignore it, I assert and intend to prove. * * * * Who ever heard any one connected with any woman suffrage advocate make 500 APPENDIX. a speecli on the subject — and all of tliem have made many — who did not denoimee and deplore the unhap- py condition of married women? Indeed, since the suffrage agitation first began, what instance of a hus- band's tyranny or brutality ever became known that was not used as an additional argument for woman's suffrage ? Is there no significance to be found in such facts as these — no refutation of subsequent denials? When brought to bay with these questions, the reply is, that suffrage is the remedy. When women can legislate, they will so amend the laws that woman shall be made man's equal; and, being his equal, she will be placed beyond his control, and beyond his oppression. Now, all that sounds very plausible to the uninitiated. But how is legislation to remedy the wrongs growing out of a certain condition, if the con- dition itself is not to be interfered with? Answer that, oh ye savans! * * * Depend upon it, we have begun at the wrong end of the snarl ; and it is labor lost to work for woman's rights until she has the right to herself; and she cati never possess that right until the marriage mummery which gives her to man is abolished. Whejuibftt-ifttrepy:^ little^- — : pii2]a£fij?.Aeet",-tranaed the^ J?^^^^7J^^^ was fir^tla-unched,^ li^onjbhe journaH wave of this city, it was earnest jind firm in its intention to help the work of social re- generation in the right way, the right way-being the honest straight-forward one of announcing the princi- plrHnd the end in view, and working always on that , principle, and toward that end. The devolution dis- cu^ed marriage and its kindred evil, fearlessly for a APPENDIX. 501 • time. Soon, however, it began to gi*ow conservative, and continued gi'owing in .that direction until it be- came a sort of mongrel. Thence it became an ortho- dox truckler of the weakest type, and then, at last, it blazoned forth with this ridiculous motto: *Whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder ! ' Thus were marked the three stages of its moral de- cline. As was natural, nothing could be expected for such an apostate to its professed faith but certain death. Just here, I should like to ask how it is known ^whom God hath joined together?' In the absence of any direct communication from God to the contrary, are not the feelings of the parties themselves toward each other the best suggestions for their actions ? It seems to me about time that these self- constituted deputies of God Almighty were compelled by their victims either to relinquish their claims to divine authority, or else to prove beyond peradven- ture that they are the ^ elect ' and ' chosen ' for regu- lating the relation of the sexes, and pronouncing upon marriage, by producing credentials from headquarters to that effect. * *• * * Furthermore, I wish some * lightning calculator,' or something, would find out the exact state of civilization needed to do away with that religious cant that first binds two antagonistic natures together as man and wife, and then compels them to a life-long fight, in — Hhe name of God!' * * * How did the idea first become prevalent that woman's rights meant the abolition of marriage, tmless em- bodied in the question ? Or, to be more explicit : if a proposition did not involve certain results, would 502 APPENDIX. the results ever suggest themselves in connection with tlie proposition ? Tliat sucli is tlie prevailing opinion among all classes, no intelligent person will attempt to deny ; and it is because of this that the suffrage move ment proper ^ hangs fire,' so to speak. It has reached that point in its progress where its tendencies are gen erally divined, and nearly every one engaged in tht work becomes suddenly silent or judiciously conserva- tive, for the sole reason that every body fears to be first to touch the subject which lies nearest every body's heart. * ^ ^ ;N"o retrograde movement is pos- sible in the realm of thought. That the work is suspended, I admit, and for this reason : the workers on that branch of the social question have reached the end of their conservative line. There is nothing more for them to do; and the whole suffrage movement is in abeyance, waiting to be taken up where they have ended, and that is at exactly the point where the suf- frage question ends, and the marriage question begins. Saeah F. Norton. 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